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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 




Christ Knocking for Admission. 



THE MEMORIAL SUPPER OF 
OUR LORD 

A Plea for Organic Church Life 



"Do this in remembrance of me." 
"As often as ye eat this bread, and drink thii 
cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." 



J. M. FROST 

Corresponding Secretary 



PRICE, 90 CENTS POSTPAID 



SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 

NASHVILLE TENNESSEE 



Ilibwary of oonIrs^ 

j Two Oopies h'etc:*-^: 

! FEB 13-1908 



GO FY Be 






ISSUED UNDER 

The Eva Garyey 

Publishing 

Fund 

GIVEN BY 

B. E. GARYEY 

NEW LIBERTY. KY. 

JANUARY 1899 



FIFTH BOOK 



COPYRIGHTED 1908 

SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD SOUTHERN BAPTIST 

CONVENTION 



^ 



TO 

NANNIE RILEY FROST 

MY WIFE 

SINCE JUNE 6 

1871 



A WORD OF PREFACE. 



This book is not a polemic. True, it sometimes crosses 
polemical lines, but never in the spirit or with the intention 
of a polemic. True, also, it is written from a Baptist stand- 
point, and in the Baptist view of the two great ordinances. 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper; the one a Monument of the 
resurrection of Jesus, the other a Memorial of hia suffering 
and death on the cross for our sins. 

But the book is a plea with Christians of every name, and 
a plea for Organic Church Life, emphasizing the idea that 
these great ordinances of our Lord are essential in the organic 
structure of his church. They are the embodiment and expres- 
sion of great doctrines, and are the ceremonials of the New 
Testament, and require our fidelity and loyalty. The spiritual 
and the ceremonial are both essential, each in its own place 
and for its own purposes. 

Many influences contributed to the writing of the book. I 
hope it may find readers, and that its writing will be justified. 
My friends, perhaps too kind and indulgent, have spoken in 
private and public of The Memorial Supper as a companion 
to my former volume. The Moral Dignity of Baptism. But I 
have not myself ventured to think of it in that way, and cer- 
tainly in the writing of the first there was no expectation or 
even thought of offering to the public this treatise on our 
Lord's great Memorial. I will count myself happy if the two 
books, whether together or separately, shall be of service to 
the cause of truth, and in any wise awaken fresh interest in 
the lofty subjects for which they plead. 

Nov. 29th, 1907. J. M. F. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



I. In What Sense a Communion. 



Disciples Commune with Their Lord — The Gospel 
Commandment — A New Fellowship Established — • 
Communion in the Memorial — Dangerous Perver- 
sions of the Truth — Full of Meaning but without 
Saving Efficacy — Communion with the Lord — Not 
Communion with Others — Concerns His Dying on 
the Cross — With the Promise of His Return. 

II. A Memorial Sebvice fob Disciples 25 

An Organic Part of a System — For the Disciple 
Himself — God and the Individual Man — Defining 
Discipleship — High Privilege with High Obligation 
— For Disciples but Not Others — Nor for the Un- 
baptized — An Illustration of the Principle — In Fel- 
lowship with Other Disciples — In the Church Con- 
gregation — The Church the Highest Organization — 
A Recognition of Jesus as Lord. 

III. The Christian Holy of Holies 51 

The Ancient Holy of Holies — The Holy of Holies 
in the New Dispensation — Setting Them in Com- 
parison — Simple Yet Magnificent — As the Symbol 
of Doctrine — God within the Holy of Holies — Show- 
ing Himself in Symbols — His Presence Here is Spe- 
cial — Isolated and Yet Accessible — Both Spiritual 
and Ceremonial — So Designed by Their Builders^ 
Meeting Ceremonial Requirements — Mystical and 
Yet Practical — The Deep Things of Experience — 
Education Through Commandment — The Spiritual 
Power of Symbols. 

IV. The Lobd Commands His JklEMOBiAL 82 

What is Said in the Scriptures (The Preceding 
Passover Meal ; The Supper in Matthew's Gospel ; 
The Account Given by Mark ; The Record In Luke's 
Gospel ; A Later Account in Paul's Epistle : The 
Word of Resurrection Authority ; In New Testa- 
ment Churches ; Paul's Word for Its Observance) — 
The Passover and the Supper — Under the Shadow 
of Judas — Institution and Commandment — The 
Name of the Ordinance — In Figurative Language 
— Permanent and Frequent — Entrusted to His 
Churches — The Ordinance in Every Church — Its 
Observance in the Church — Holding the Form with- 
out Formalism. 



Table of Contents. 



V. A Companion Memobial to Baptism 108 

Classed with Things Commanded — Obedience In 
Heart and Life — Memorials oJ Divine Requirement 
— Ceremonials of the New Testament — Evangelism 
without the Ordinances — New Testament Evangel- 
Ism — Essential to Organic Church Life — The 
Churches vs. "The Church" — The Churches and 
the Kingdom — The Ordinances Supplemental in 
Their Meaning — Their Message of a New Life — 
Their Important Testimony in Apologetics — ^New 
Honor for the Ordinances. 

VI. The Memobial and Its Restbiction 137 

Making Plain a Common Issue — Restricted to 
Church Members — No Exceptions in the Records — 
The New Testament Prerequisite — The Responsi- 
bility of Deciding — An Interdenominational Sympo- 
sium — Definition of Church and Ordinances (From 
Individual Men ; The Seminary's Statement ; The 
New Hampshire Confession of Faith) — What These 
Principles Require — Believer's Baptism a Pre- 
requisite — Immersion the Essential Form — The 
Baptist View as Seen by Others — The One Standard 
of Authority — What I Said and What Christ Said. 

VII. The Memobial Signet Set in Red 175 

In the Crimson of the Cross — Man's Need and God's 
Provision — In the Death of His Son for Sin — The 
Moral Power of the Cross — Made Him a Sin-offer- 
ing for Us — A Sacrifice Vicarious and Voluntary — 
Working Out His Plan and Purpose — Christ the 
Propitiation for Our Sins — The Atonement Through 
His Blood — Necessary for One, SuflBcient for All — 
Available Through Faith in His Blood — Life in 
Christ, and Life for Christ. 

VIII. The Sbabch Light Tuened Within 203 

Not Too Much Self-Introspection — The Fearful Con- 
dition at Corinth — Such Conditions not Likely Now 
— Bating and Drinking Unworthily — Personal Re- 
sponsibility and Obligation — The Ordinance of Ex- 
acting Character — Considering Christ and Not 
Ourselves — Sentiments Becoming the Memorial— 
The Pastor and Its Celebration — The Church in 
Exalted Service. 



Table of Contents. 



IX. In Memory of Christ Himself 219 

Gives Honor and Glory to Him — As Jesus Christ 
the Lord — With the Mission to Save Sinners — Suf- 
fered and Died on the Cross — Salvation in the 
Shedding of His Blood — In Personal Union with 
Believers — Known Through an Experience of Grace 
— His Mastership of All the Ages — Identified 
Himself with a Ceremony — As Supreme in the Ordi- 
nance — Our Plea for His Remembering Us. 

X. The Memorial's Crowning Paradox 243 

.The Truth Set in Paradox Form — The Bible's Use 
of the Paradox — Our Lord's Life a Paradox Life— 
The Lord's Death the Crowning Paradox — He Died 
on the Cross as God-Man — An Infinite Death of In- 
finite Merit — The Paradox Commemorated in Sym- 
bol — Beyond Us, Yet for Our Use. 



XI. FOREGLEAM OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM 263 

Another Life Beyond the Present Life — No Other 
Word but the Bible Word — The Ever Pressing 
Question of Destiny — Jesus Uses the Language of 
His Home — Their Future Condition a Kingdom — 
Others Become More Bold in Speech — Personal 
Identity Shall Remain — A Kingdom from Adverse 
Conditions. 



ILLUSTRATIONS FROM FAMOUS 
PICTURES 



1. Christ Knocking for Admission, . . . . . Frontispiece 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he 
with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my 
throne. 

2. Christ Commanding His Ordinance, Page 82 

The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; 
and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said ; Take, eat ; this 
is my body which is broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me. 
After the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had 
supped, saying. This cup is the New Testament m my blood ; this do 
ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 

3. Christ Baptized in the Jordan Page 108 

Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in 
Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water he saw the 
heavens open, and the Spirit, like a dove descending upon him ; and 
there came a voice from heaven, saying. Thou art my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased. 

4. Christ Dying for Our Sins, . Page 175 

That which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins accord- 
ing to the Scriptures ; and that he was buried, and that he arose again 
the third day according to the Scriptures. . . . Christ crucified, 
unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. 
But unto them which are called, Christ the power of God and the wis- 
dom of God. 

5. Christ Risen from the Dead, Page 221 

Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping. . . . Jesus sayeth 
unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and sayeth unto him, Rabboni. 
. . . And Mary told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and 
that he had spoken these things unto her. ... If Christ be not 
risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain ; yea and 
we are found false witnesses of God. But now is Christ risen from 
the dead. 

6. Christ Returning to His Former Glory Page 263 

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and enter into his 
glory? . . . While they beheld, he was taken up ; and a cloud re- 
ceived him out of their sight. . . . This same Jesus, which is taken 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
seen him go into heaven. 



CHAPTER I. 
IN WHAT SENSE A COMMUNION. 

Acts 2: 41, 42: "They that gladly received his word were 
baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about 
three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the 
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, 
and in prayers." 

1 Cor. 1:9: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto 
the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 

1 John 1:3, 7 : "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, 
and with his Son Jesus Christ. We have fellowship one with 
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth ua 
from all sin." 

Rev. 3: 20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any 
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, 
and will sup with him, and he with me." 

I ^^ iHRIST appointed for his churches two ordi- 
I \^ I nances and commanded their observance, — 
f^^^Sf Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The one is 
i'^nrT i I initiatory, to be administered upon a profes- 
sion of faith in Jesus Christ, and only once to each 
believer; the other is a memorial, often repeated in 
the churches to commemorate Christ's atonement for 
sin through his suffering and death. They are equal 
commandments of our Lord, — his ordinances to be 
observed in their order, his injunctions to be obeyed 
from the heart and fulfilled in the outward life. 
Throughout these pages we magnify and even glorify 
this Memorial Supper, and so do honor to him "who 
loved us and gave himself for us.'* 



i- 



t 



The Memorial Supper. 



DISCIPLES COMMUNE WITH THEIR LORD. 



In the Lord's Supper the disciple communes with 
his Lord. Communion, however, does not appear to 
be the primary purpose of the Supper, indeed, not its 
purpose at all. This comes as a result rather than its 
original intention. The memorial service answers this 
high end as one of the provisions of the Gospel. In 
this way the Lord's Supper is a communion in its ob- 
servance, the disciples' communion with their Lord. 
And because of its realistic power and often recur- 
ring blessedness, it has won for itself the distinction 
of being called The Communion, We need not cor- 
rect this, only let us understand the source of its 
power and keep in mind its original memorial purpose. 

It is of first importance that we always recognize 
the Memorial Supper as a commandment, with its 
consequent obligations. These obligations are impera- 
tive. The commandment takes rank with other com- 
mandments of our Lord, in the keeping of which there 
is great reward. Herein is blessing and blessedness. 
Herein also the Gospel message as an evangel trans- 
forms its obligation into exalted privilege, and in this 
memorial service opens a fountain of joy and spirit- 
ual refreshment. 

THE GOSPEL COMMANDMENT. 

The Gospel of Christ was from the first a mighty 
spiritual dynamo in the world. To this day and among 
all the nations of the earth wherever preached, it "is 
the power of God unto salvation to every one that 



In What Sense a Communion. ii 

believeth." John the Baptist ushered in the new dis- 
pensation, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, mak- 
ing and baptizing disciples, many thousands of them. 
His ministry came to its zenith in the baptism of 
Jesus, and then immediately began to wane. The star- 
light was fading, now that the Sun of Righteousness 
was on the horizon. 

Jesus took up the work of John, though upon an ad- 
vanced and larger scale, and yet with the same mes- 
sage of Gospel appeal and admonition; "Repent, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As a result, he 
made and baptized more disciples than John — though 
he himself baptized not, but his disciples. He gave 
out the startling promise, "This gospel of the king- 
dom shall be preached in all the world for a witness 
unto all nations," and then closed his earthly career 
in the tragedy of the cross. To all human appearances 
this was the end; his ministry seemed to go out in 
failure and darkness. "The sun had gone down while 
it was yet day." 

But when he was risen from the dead he reap- 
peared in the might and glory of his resurrection 
power. And with marvelous boldness and calmness, 
he gathered up the broken ministry of John and the 
interrupted ministry of himself, and committed to his 
disciples the work of making and baptizing other dis- 
ciples on unto the end, for the fulfillment of his prom- 
ise to give his Gospel to the world. 

"Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and 



12 The Memorial Supper. 

make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; Teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; 
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
—Matt. 28; 18-20. 

A new era had come. The first Evangelistic Cam- 
paign under the new commission opened at Jerusalem 
on the day of Pentecost. The church had received its 
marching orders and the King had ascended on high. 
That new commission had commanded afresh and per- 
petuated the two ordinances — Baptism by specific men- 
tion, and the Lord's Supper by easy, perhaps neces- 
sary, implication, and in the order in which they should 
be held in their relation to each other. Both ordi- 
nances reappear, and in this prescribed order, and 
hold a marked place in that first evangelistic campaign 
under the great commission. The gospel was 
preached, disciples were made, their baptism followed, 
then came fellowship and the breaking of bread. 

A NEW FELLOWSHIP ESTABLISHED. 

The disciples of Jesus were a new class among 
men, and as they multiplied were gathered into 
churches. In their hearts grace had wrought its work, 
and they were believers in him unto salvation ; and this 
gave a church membership of those born of God. 
They were a new creation in Christ Jesus — created 
unto good works— old things had passed away and 
all things had become new. They were clothed with 
power from on high. They wore an invisible, yet real, 
badge of distinction. They had new relationship and 



In What Sense a Communion. 13 

were brought into high and royal fellowship — fellow- 
ship with God the Father, fellowship with his Son 
Jesus Christ, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and fel- 
lowship also with one another because of their com- 
mon calling and experience and doctrine and mission 
and heritage. 

This fellowship with the Lord Jesus is at once the 
basis and pledge of communion with him, whether in 
the Supper or otherwise. For the communion vouch- 
safed to the believer in Jesus is general and compre- 
hensive. It is not prescribed or limited to ordinances. 
It has no limitation in place or occasion. The true 
worshiper may worship wherever he will, whether 
in this mountain or at Jerusalem or elsewhere, so 
he worship in spirit and in truth. For the Father 
seeketh such to worship him, regardless of time or 
place. 

And yet, the disciple*s communion with his Lord 
in this memorial worship is something specific, is full 
of rich blessing and well deserves special emphasis. 
This exalted privilege, this open door to the presence 
of the King, has its guarantee in the believer's fellow- 
ship with him. "If any man will open the door," were 
his gracious words of love and condescension on a dif- 
ferent occasion, but certainly true in our Lord's Me- 
morial Supper, "I will come in, and sup with him, and 
he with me." 

We come, therefore, to this : Discipleship, Lordship, 
Communion — these three great words bear the thought 
for present consideration. The facts for which these 



14 The Memorial Supper. 

words stand are basal in Christian doctrine and ex- 
perience and life. Discipleship in the believer; Lord- 
ship in the Savior; their Communion one with the 
other. These are high considerations and demand pro- 
found and earnest attention. 

COMMUNION IN THE MEMORIAL. 

As already said, the Lord's Supper is an institution 
or ordinance which he himself has set in his churches 
for their observance. It is very simple in its outward 
act — eating bread and supping wine, by the disciple 
in the assembly of the saints. It is single in its na- 
ture and purpose — a memorial of suffering and death 
— a visible token of dying love, wherein Jesus our Sa- 
vior gave himself a ransom for many. It is to be ob- 
served in the churches till the end of the age, and must 
be all the while held to the one single purpose — a me- 
morial which celebrates the death of Christ as a sacri- 
fice for sin. The bread and wine are simply emblems 
and the service a memorial service. This is the basal 
thought concerning the Lord's Supper. We cannot 
come back to it too often, nor give its expression too 
great emphasis. Memorial is its name and nature and 
purpose; the very heart and life of the ordinance. 
And we need to discriminate closely and clearly be- 
tween what is primary and what is incidental in its 
observance. Here, in this memorial service, while we 
commemorate Christ's death, we find communion with 
him. These are to each other somewhat as cause and 
occasion — as the root and the tree — or as the tree it- 



Ix What Sense a Communion. 15 

self and the fruit which ripens and mellows among its 
branches. 

DANGEROUS PERVERSIONS OF THE TRUTH. 

This ordinance, so simple and beautiful, so full of 
tender and precious memories to the believer, has been 
at times greatly perverted. Some times the perversion 
has been so gross and so full of superstition as to al- 
most destroy the original character and meaning of 
the Supper. 

The discussion concerning the ordinance for cen- 
turies was a gigantic war of words and served but lit- 
tle for the cause of truth. It fastened upon the simple 
memorial many ponderous words and fearful errors, 
as the following: ''transubstantiation," "consubstan- 
tiation," "impanation," "elevation and adoration of 
the host," ''saying of mass," "extreme unction," "sac- 
ramentarian grace," "sacrament," and others, as held 
by the Romish Church and those who follow more or 
less in her wake. There was scarcely any relief until 
Zwingli lifted his voice among the mountains of Swit- 
zerland, reforming the Reformers and pleading for the 
memorial character of the ordinance. When we come 
out into the open once more we feel much as a man 
escaped from a wilderness of words. The simplicity 
of the New Testament language is in striking contrast 
with all this. There is no changing of bread into 
flesh, or of wine into blood, no embodiment of body in 
the elements, no change of any kind in the elements 
and no communication through them. The bread is 



i6 The Memorial Supper. 

still simply bread, and the wine is still simply wine, 
and are nothing more than themselves, notwithstand- 
ing the significance and holy use to which they are 
put in this wonderful ordinance. 

FULL OF MEANING BUT NO SAVING EFFICACY. 

The Lord's Supper, like baptism, is not a saving 
ordinance. It has no mysterious or mystical power 
of saving people. Indeed, like its companion ordi- 
nance, it is intended for people who have already ex- 
perienced the saving grace of God through faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ. For others it has no meaning 
or value. But while having no saving efficacy it does 
have marvelous meaning and significance as a me- 
morial. It bears testimony to an objective fact, viz.: 
the sufifering and death of the Son of God for our sins, 
and not to subjective experiences except as awakened 
and influenced in the human soul by this memorial 
service. 

The Supper does not carry so much in itself as bap- 
tism carries ; is not so many-sided as that ordinance in 
its pictorial representation ; and yet what it does carry 
it carries with clearness and tremendous power ; it has 
always had a richness of sentiment in its administra- 
tion never possessed by the other ordinance. It is the 
memorial of death, a vicarious death on account of 
sin, of atonement made for sin through the blood of 
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world. The bread and wine are in no sense a sacri- 
fice, but in beautiful and powerful fashion symbolize 



In What Sense a Communion. 17 

the greatest of all sacrifices — the sacrificial death of 
the Lord Jesus. 

It is of immense importance that the Lord's Supper 
be cleared of all the fictitious and factitious notions 
which have accumulated about it through the cen- 
turies, and be held to the one single purpose of a me- 
morial service. This gives the ordinance real mean- 
ing, emphasizes its one definite purpose, brings it out 
into the clear sunlight so as to be seen as it was seen 
and observed as it was observed on that sad night, 
when in the upper chamber Jesus said: "Do this in 
remembrance of me." This view is the background 
for all else concerning the ordinance, and creates 
every other value which it possesses, and makes its 
observance full of rich and blessed experience. 

An ordinance, however simple in itself, when 
crowned and glorified in such holy memorial, could 
not fail to produce conditions holy and blessed in their 
influence. These are secondary but none the less real 
and powerful. The Lord's Supper is a memorial but 
in its observance becomes the Eucharist — an ordi- 
nance which awakens memories and grateful praise 
for him who laid down his life for our sin. The Lord's 
Supper is a memorial but in its observance becomes a 
communion — a blessed service in which the disciple 
comes face to face with his Lord, and they two stand 
together in marvelous fellowship, facing the tremen- 
dous fact that human redemption came by the cross 
and the purchase price was paid in the shedding of 
blood. This is what gives the ordinance power to 
2 



1 8 The Memorial Supper. 

awaken in us deeper love and to send us out with new 
and high resolve for nobler life. Here the heart melts 
down and we come more under the Savior's power. 

COMMUNION WITH THE LORD. 

It is very essential to have our emphasis right; 
otherwise we miss the very heart of this impressive 
and instructive symbol. The Lord's Supper is in very 
truth a communion, but a communion with Christ, 
and with him as distinguished from all others; and 
in a mighty sense, to the exclusion of all others — cer- 
tainly their exclusion from our thought and devotion. 
We are face to face with him — and at the cross where 
he suffered and died — and in contemplation of all the 
cross stands for. Enraptured by the matchless charm 
of his presence, we are held by the memory of his 
suffering and death and redeeming love. Here at the 
cross, if anywhere in the whole wide, wide world and 
to the exclusion of all others, our hearts are awakened 
in song — sorrow and joy strangely commingling, but 
always in devout praise and worship. Here the Holy 
Spirit opens the eyes of our understanding — takes the 
things of Christ and shows them unto us — ^bears wit- 
ness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, joint- 
heirs with Christ and sharer in his suffering, and with 
groanings which cannot be uttered he makes interces- 
sion for us and helps our infirmities. 

There are no holier or richer sentiments on earth 
than the sentiments awakened in the Memorial Sup- 
per with Christ as their object and center. Here is 



In What Sense a Communion. ig 

the outflow of the heart in these moments so rich in 
blessings, so devout in worship: 

His blood has redeemed me from sin; 

I weep and I sing in my gladness, 
To know he is dwelling within. 

He taught me the secret of faith; 
To rest in believing his promise 
And trust whatever he saith. 

I lay my whole soul at his feet; 

The love he has kindled within me, 
Makes service and suffering sweet. 

If earth in his love is so blest, 

What joy in his glorified presence, 
To sit at his feet as his guest! 

What a holy place this is! Surely heaven has come 
down to us. This service is indeed the Holy Com- 
munion. We stand within the sacred precinct, and 
Christ present with us in his own person. Our fellow- 
ship with him, under this hallowed influence, ripens 
into richer experiences of grace. We commune with 
him — with him; that is our emphasis. No angel in all 
the heavenly host can take his place in that holy serv- 
ice. He is our sacrifice, our Savior, our Lord. We 
crown him in our heart. 

NOT communion WITH OTHERS. 

Our communion here with him cannot be divided, 
though it may be in company with others; indeed, in 
this sense it must be with others, for the memorial 
celebration is in the assembly of the saints. But it 



^ The Memorial Supper. 

cannot be diverted from our Lord or divided with 
others. It is the disciple and his Lord. 

Much hurtful talk has been indulged in that grates 
on this sentiment and mars the beautiful simplicity 
and singleness of purpose in the Lord's Supper. One 
speaks of communing here with his mother, commun- 
ing with his child, or communing with his wife. But 
that is wholly apart, and far, far below the exalted 
purpose of this holy ordinance. Such talk results from 
misdirected sentiment and misplaced emphasis. It does 
dishonor to our Lord, divides our affection, mars the 
beauty and glory of the ordinance, discounts if it does 
not utterly prevent the richer and more blessed ex- 
perience. 

I remember hearing Dr. George W. Truett, of Dal- 
las, Texas, in a beautiful talk on the Lord's Supper, 
relate an incident which greatly impressed me. A 
man guilty of treason was arraigned, with his wife 
and children, before his king to be sentenced for pun- 
ishment. The man pleaded guilty but besought the 
king to let the children go free, offering to give half 
his large estate as a ransom for them. "But," said the 
king, "what about your wife?" "Let her go, too," 
said the man, "and I will gladly give the other half of 
my estate." "No," said the king, "your children may 
go — your wife may go — you may go, too, and may 
keep your estate." The man, overcome with feeling, 
led his little group away. "Wife," said the man, "did 
you notice the face of the king, and see how troubled 
and moved he was, and what benevolent compassion 



In What Sense a Communion. ^^ 

shone In his eyes?" "No, indeed, husband," said the 
wife, "I did not see the king at all; I did not look at 
his face; I saw no other face than yours, and you 
were all and in all to me." 

Is it not something like that if others intrude on 
our thoughts, when in communion with our Lord at 
his own table? Here mother, father, child, — all put 
aside. Human ties are not taken into account and 
must not stand between us and Christ. He is present 
with us, invisible indeed to our physical vision, yet 
real; intangible and yet present as our all and in all. 
Make no talk about communing with others, but rather 
let it be your joy and crown of rejoicing that you 
commune with him. 

concerns his dying on the cross. 

Moreover, this communion with Christ concerns in 
a peculiar manner his suffering and death, his shed- 
ding of blood for the remission of sin. This gives 
distinction and exceptional power to this season of^ 
communion with him in the Memorial Supper. He 
himself placed the emphasis here and made it a mark 
of distinction forever. This is my body broken. This 
is my blood shed. This is the new covenant in my 
blood. This do in remembrance of me. This language, 
so far away by many, many years, is yet fresh and 
fragrant. These words appeal to our hearts as though 
he were speaking them now for the first time. They 
will never lose their power with redeemed souls. 

Even a trifle may serve as a memento, and hold in 



2± The Memorial Supper. 

itself strange power over human hearts. The mother, 
busy in her household cares, comes unexpectedly upon 
tiny shoes — once covering the little feet which played 
about the home, or a glove once the covering of baby 
fingers. They are worn and rusty, soiled and torn, 
but how they appeal to the heart and open the fountain 
for a thousand memories ! The child went away these 
years ago, but now all is fresh and the memory lives 
over again the former years. 

And the stately ships go on 

To their haven under the hill; 
But O, for the touch of a vanish'd hand, 

And the sound of a voice that is still. 

These articles of wear, otherwise cast off as worth- 
less, hold within themselves as a memento the memory 
of our dead. How much more these emblems in the 
Lord's Supper! Nay, we should not compare them. 
His presence is more than a memory presence. His 
words are words of living power. This bread and 
wine — the very emblems of the cross, — and this serv- 
ice — the very symbol of crucifixion, — tell wondrous 
things of suffering and death, of love also beyond all 
we can think, and of our redemption through his 
blood. These emblems of memorial tell the sin of the 
human heart — tell the consequent need of sin's remis- 
sion through the shedding of blood — and tell the amaz- 
ing provisions of grace through the Gospel. This one 
unbroken song, through the ages, is the song of in- 
finite efficiency and efficacy in the atonement made 



In What Sense a Communion. 23 

for sin, when Jesus Christ died as the Lamb for sin- 
ners slain. 

Thou dying Lamb, thy precious blood 

Shall never lose its power, 
Till all the ransomed Church of God, 

Be saved to sin no more. 

This is the burden of the Lord's Supper. It gives 
distinction to the service as a communion with Christ 
concerning his death. Without this it has no meaning; 
with this it shines in the glory of redeeming grace, 
as the cloud was made luminous with the divine pres- 
ence in the Holy of holies. 

WITH THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN. 

And, yet, we do not worship a dead Christ. Our 
communion with him is not with him as dead, but as 
living. He is as a Lamb that was slain. He died for 
our sins once, but is now alive for evermore, and is at 
the right hand of God in the heavens. 

God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were 
yet sinners Christ died for us. . . . The blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. . . . How that 
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that 
he was buried, and that he rose again the third day accord- 
ing to the Scriptures. ... He was delivered for our of- 
fences and was raised agair for our justification. . . . Who 
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that 
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
maketh intercession for us. . . . This same Jesus, which is 
taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen him go into heaven. 

So that while in this memorial of our Lord we 
celebrate his dying for our sins, we celebrate also his 



24 The Memorial Supper. 

resurrection from the ' dead — celebrate his enthrone- 
ment at the right hand of God — celebrate his inter- 
cession for the saints in the heavenly places — celebrate 
his abiding presence with his people on earth and the 
sure fulfillment of his promise to return again in 
power and glory. And while the symbol is the sym- 
bol of his having died, yet our communion is with the 
living Christ, the crowned and sceptered King who 
shall come again. We "do show the Lord's death till 
he come," and in his coming all symbols and shadows 
shall vanish as the stars go out before the rising sun. 

I will sing of my Redeemer, 

And his wondrous love to me. 
On the cruel cross he suffered. 

From the curse to set me free. 

I will tell the wondrous story. 

How my lost estate to save. 
In his boundless love and mercy. 

He the ransom fully gave. 

I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, 
stood before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in 
their hands; . . . they that have washed their robes and 
made them white with the blood of the Lamb. . . . And 
many angels round about the throne — ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud 
voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing. . . . Salvation to our God which sitteth upon 
the throne and unto the Lamb. Amen, and Amen. 



CHAPTER II. 

A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR DISCIPLES. 

John 4: 1, 2: "Jesus made and baptized more disciples than 
John, (though Jesus baptized not, but his disciples)." 

Luke 24 : 48, 47 : "Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to 
rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and 
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all 
nations.'* 

Matt. 28: 19: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all 
nations, baptizing them." 

John 3:3, 6, 7 : "Jesus answered and said unto him. Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born from above, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born from above." 

John 1: 12, 13: "To as many as received him, to them gave 
he the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that 
believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of 
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 

Acts 2 : 41, 42 : "They that gladly received his word were 
baptized. . . . And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in 
prayers." 

T'^^^^HE New Testament gives rank and distinc- 
tion to the Memorial Supper, here called 
*'the breaking of bread." Its place in the 
language of Scripture and in the practical 
working of the Gospel economy is very significant, 
as seen from the passages cited, and others to be 
noted later. Mark well the succession of procedure 
— making disciples, baptizing them, continuing stead- 



26 The Memorial Supper. 

fastly in doctrine, and in fellowship as marking a 
new condition and making a new brotherhood, and 
in breaking of bread in remembrance of their Lord, 
as he had done and commanded on that last night in 
his chosen guest chamber. 

Mark, furthermore, what lay back even of these 
things, antedating them as a prior experience and mak- 
ing them possible — repentance, believing, born from 
above — ^born of the Holy Spirit of God, and so be- 
coming a son of God — heir of God and joint heir 
with Jesus Christ. This is the order of requirement, 
and of necessary sequence if we are to hold the Lord's 
Supper in the exalted and exceptional place to which 
it is assigned in the word of God. 

This "breaking of bread," simple as it may seem, 
God has appointed as a memorial of the sacrificial 
death of his Son, and the beautiful memorial service 
must be near to the heart of God. It represents the 
tragedy of the cross and puts on exhibition forever 
what it wrought in the economy of grace for human 
redemption. Its observance awakens the profoundest 
and most mystical emotions of the human heart — 
emotions strangely sorrowful and rapturous. This is 
none other than the house of God. The heavenly 
breath and beauty seem to be upon it — and the heav- 
enly song. It has the ready recognition of being in 
deed and in truth ''the holy communion" — the dis- 
ciple's communion with his Lord. With many, pos- 
sibly with all, this Memorial service holds, almost if 
not altogether the crowning place in Christian life, 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 2y 

AN ORGANIC PART OF A SYSTEM. 

These holy sentiments, born from above and of the 
heavenly family, must not be allowed to vanish, effer- 
vescent like, with nothing to tell of their coming or 
going. They must not prevent us from discerning the 
evident strength in the Lord's Supper in its influence 
on Christian character and life — whether that influ- 
ence be as the morning dew or as something more stal- 
wart, and even resistive unto death. There is great 
holding power in the Lord's Supper, for the devout 
soul who worships there — as the mighty iron cable 
holds the great ship riding at anchor while the waves 
are boisterous and the sea is swept by an ocean storm. 

We sometim.es forget, at least, in this high tide of 
exalted sentiment we are in danger of forgetting, that 
this ordinance is part of a system — as the eye is a 
part of the human body — and has divinely established 
organic relation to other parts; that it must not be 
removed from its place, lest it be marred of its beauty 
and broken of its power. 

The Lord's Supper is related to discipleship, and to 
the disciple of Jesus as a disciple, — one who as a be- 
liever is born of God and is walking in all the com- 
mandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. It 
is related to baptism, the other great ordinance of the 
Gospel system, which testifies to the resurrection of 
that Christ whose death is symbolized in the Supper, 
and bears testimony for the believer as to his own 
death to sin and of his spiritual resurrection to a new 
life in Jesus Christ, 



28 The Memorial Supper. 

The Lord's Supper is related to many of the car- 
dinal doctrines of grace, and in such a way as not only 
to give them emblematic expression in the quiet and 
beautiful observance, but also to receive from them 
something of their doctrinal significance. It is related 
to churches, — to each individual church, — as being part 
of its organic structure and as expressing the fellow- 
ship of the members in their church life as in the new 
brotherhood of believers. 

The ordinance does not stand by itself, and must 
always be considered in its larger and yet more defi- 
nite scope. Its obligations are imperative in their de- 
mand for obedience — the simple, yet compelling obli- 
gation to observe it, and the further obligation that 
the observance be as God has commanded. Its bless- 
ing, its most holy and heavenly and helpful blessing, 
will come along the line of the divine appointment and 
requirement. 

FOR the disciple HIMSELF. 

The Lord's Supper in its fullness and richness, is 
for the disciple individually. This is true both for its 
obligations and for its blessings, and for the disciple 
when in the assembly of the saints. It is the individual 
disciple in communion with his personal Savior, and 
in rendering obedience to the laws of the kingdom. 
The voluntary principle and the principle of each one 
acting for himself is fundamental. There is no place 
here for anything like proxy in the matters of religion. 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 29 

And whatever the Gospel of grace offers or gives, is 
given to the individual in its entirety and fullness. 

In the high obligation and privilege of this memorial 
service there is no distinction between "clergy and 
laity." Nor can priest or preacher serve for the dis- 
ciple. It is an individual eating and drinking, and this 
stands for personal union with Christ, and personal 
service for his honor and glory. 

Nor does it make any difference from what station in 
life the disciple comes, whether prince from among the 
crowned heads or peasant from the humblest of homes, 
provided only he be a true disciple of his Lord, "walk- 
ing in all the commandments and ordinances of the 
Lord blameless." In this Memorial Service, as cer- 
tainly as in the matter of death, all meet as equals in 
a common station of exalted privilege and joyous wor- 
ship — celebrating the death of their common Lord in 
the shedding of whose blood there is fullness of re- 
mission. We emphasize — the Lord's Supper empha- 
sizes — the individual believer in Christ, acting for him- 
self, meeting personal obligations, and sharing the 
common heritage of those who love the Lord. Not that 
he segregates himself but stands as an individual in 
the assembly of the saints to honor him whose they 
are and whom they serve. 

iGOD AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN. 

Throughout the Bible God deals with the individual 
man, as a fundamental principle in his method of deal- 
ing with men. True, he is the God of nations, and in 



30 The Memorial Supper. 

his providence nations rise and fall; true, he is God 
of the family, and the family is planted by him, and 
he holds in family worship as truly as in the temple 
worship ; and yet back of all this he is God of the in- 
dividual, whether with Moses in the burning bush, or 
with Elijah at Mount Horeb, or Hannah praying in 
the Temple, or Sarah laughing in her tent. He was 
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob before he 
became the God of the Hebrew nation. Indeed, it is 
the crowning glory of man, that God whose name is 
Holy, who dwells in the high and lofty place and in- 
habiteth eternity deals with him as an individual and 
dwells "with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive 
the heart of the contrite ones." 

This principle operates also in the New Testament 
economy. The individual acts for himself, for himself 
in repenting, for himself in believing, for himself in 
obeying Christ in baptism, for himself in observing 
the Lord's Supper, and for himself in the ever recur- 
ring obligations in the Christian life. Even when three 
•thousand turned to the Lord in one day, they were 
saved as individuals. God regenerates by units. Men 
are born of God one at a time. And each one acting 
for himself, they all continued steadfastly in the apos- 
tles* doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of 
bread, and in prayers. In the song of the multitude, 
whether on earth or in heaven, there is the individual 
disciple making melody in his heart unto him who 
loved us and washed us in his own precious blood. 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 31 

DEFINING DISCIPLESHIP. 

But what is discipleship and who is a disciple? 
These terms are readily understood, and yet it is not 
easy to define or describe what they stand for. Their 
rank in the New Testament is easily recognized, and 
they have divinely established relations both to baptism 
and to the Lord's Supper. They are correlative terms 
with the observance of these two ordinances in a lim- 
ited and yet definite way. 

The term, father, has its correlative in the term son, 
and husband is the correlative term of wife; the one 
implying and requiring the other. So also with these 
ordinances, if conditions are normal and accordant 
with the New Testament: discipleship implies and 
requires the ordinances; and their observance means 
the presence of those who are the disciples of Christ — 
those born from above, believing in him, following his 
example and keeping his precept. When this fails or 
comes short, it is because of human weakness, or er- 
rant life, or radical disarrangement in the structural 
character of the Christian system. 

Discipleship often suffers abridgment at our hands, 
sometimes in what it allows and sometimes in its re- 
quirements. Discipleship is the wide open door to the 
ordinances, with all the ordinances can give. But at 
the same time its requirements are imperative, even at 
a sacrifice, or if one suffer loss. *Tf any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily, and follow me," said Christ, and so opens the 
way to the crown by way of the cross ; *'for whosoever 



32 The Memorial Supper. 

doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be 
my disciple." Cross-bearing comes before crown wear- 
ing. Blessing and obligation walk hand in hand in the 
kingdom of God. Discipleship, when having full sway, 
means doing what Christ says, doing the way he com- 
manded, and maintaining things in the order in which 
he set them. 

The term disciple, even in its concrete character, is 
of wide range, being at once restrictive and yet in- 
clusive and comprehensive. There are abundant exam- 
ples in the New Testament. John was the beloved 
disciple while yet a son of thunder ; Simon Peter was 
a disciple the day Andrew brought him to Jesus, also 
the day he made his great confession of the Divine 
Sonship of Jesus, and the day of his awful denial 
when he wept bitterly over his sin and folly; Peter 
and John were disciples the first day they met Jesus, 
and also on the day of their power at Pentecost, and 
later when men saw their boldness and took advantage 
of them that they had been with Jesus. 

Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, though 
"secretly, for fear of the Jews," and also a disciple 
when going boldly to Pilate and begging the body of 
Jesus for burial in his own new tomb. Saul of Tarsus 
was a disciple when Ananias found him in the street 
called Straight, and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even 
Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent 
me unto thee" ; a disciple also in later years when, fac- 
ing persecution and possible death, he said, "but none 
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 33 

unto myself, so that I might finish my course with 
joy" ; and also a disciple when his life having come to 
the sunset, he said, "The time of my departure is at 
hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid 
up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord 
the righteous judge, will give me at that day; and not 
to me only but to all them which love his appearing." 

HIGH privilege WITH HIGH OBLIGATION. 

Thus it appears that being a disciple of Jesus may 
have widely varying grades and conditions. It may 
indicate more or less of shortcoming and failure, or 
of progress and high standing in the service of the 
great Master. There is growth and ripeness and rich- 
ness of experience. There is beginning and progress 
and consummation. But through it all there is ever 
the one basal element of relation to Christ as Savior 
and King, of requirement in obedience at our hands, 
and of the larger door to wider usefulness and more 
exalted privilege until the end come and the crown 
be given. It is discipleship that opens the way to the 
higher things of the kingdom, and gives the disciple 
place and rank and joy in the Memorial Service of the 
Lord's Supper. 

In the very nature of the case the disciple must 
have as preparatory to this service, qualification and 
prerequisite. And these must stand in their order and 
go before its observance even with the disciple. Some 
of these qualifications come to him by virtue of his 
3 



34 The Memorial Supper. 

being a disciple, viz., repentance, and faith, and the 
new birth in which he becomes the child of God. These 
are spiritual and place him among the saved who love 
God and desire to walk in his ways. But in addition 
there are for the disciple other and outward prerequi- 
sites to the Memorial Supper, viz. : ( i ) Profession of 
his experience of grace; (2) Baptism as Christ has 
commanded; (3) Membership in his church; (4) A 
godly life as becoming the household of faith. 

These all are essential to admission to the Lord's 
Supper. Each has its own place and significance, and 
is what the disciple needs, and is required of him as 
he comes to this communion with his Lord. These dis- 
tinguish him from others, and make his royal badge of 
admission as he walks among the saved and celebrates 
in this Memorial Service the Christ who died for him 
and through whose blood he has remission of sin. If 
we fall short in the requirement, we need not complain 
or wonder if we fall short also in the privilege. Those 
who are ready, as prescribed by the Lord of the Sup- 
per, will go into the Memorial observance and find 
communion with their Lord. These are the children 
of the King, who find recognition and honor and bless- 
ing at the Lord's Supper. 

FOR DISCIPLES BUT NOT OTHERS. 

The Lord's Supper is not for the unsaved. The 
difference is radical, the distinction and separation in- 
evitable. Others than disciples will not care for the 
privilege, indeed, will not count it a privilege. The 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 35 

unsaved who will not accept Christ as Savior and 
Lord, do not desire communion with him. Their 
communion with him is impossible, in their present 
condition of heart. They are not obedient to his 
law and give his ordinances no place in their per- 
sonal life. 

This Memorial Service has nothing to do with the 
unsaved; has no meaning to them and no advantage 
for them; possibly their partaking would be a sacri- 
legious intrusion into things holy. It is a celebration 
and communion which are utterly apart from all who 
do not love our Lord, and who have not accepted him 
as their Savior. Only the saved of the Lord should 
come to the Table of the Lord. 

Moreover, those who have the ordinance in charge, 
and are responsible for its right observance, viz., the 
churches of Jesus Christ, will not invite the unsaved 
to share with them in this holy Memorial. Its incon- 
gruity and sacrilege would shock the Christian sense 
everywhere. There is no room to question the wis- 
dom, justice and philosophy of restricting the Service 
to the saved. Dr. E. C. Dargan, in his Ecclesiology, 
page 505, says : 

"The English word *mass,* and the German messe, are cor- 
ruptions in popular speech of the Latin missa, by which name 
the service is always called in the Roman Church. Now, the 
word missa is derived from the practice in the worship of the 
early church. At a certain point unbelievers were requested 
to withdraw, that is, the general congregation was sent away, 
or in Latin, missa est. 

"At another stage the catechumens, and penitents likewise 
retired, and to the Supper itself only baptized believers were 
allowed to remain, all others having been dismissed. From 



36 The Memorial Supper. 

this dismission, the service in which believers only partici- 
pated came to be called missa fidelium, or the *missa of the 
faithful'; and then, by pre-eminence, the celebration of the 
Lord's Supper came to be called missa, or mass." 

The Romish Church has missed the meaning of the 
Lord's Supper in almost every particular, and its per- 
versions in some cases have been horrible to contem- 
plate. And yet there is something significant and very 
impressive in their method, though we do not approve 
their custom, of clearing this service from those not 
qualified as the Lord has required. Missa est — the 
sending of the unsaved away — though not required is 
yet significant and of serious import, and reducing the 
service to the missa Udelium is commendable in every- 
way. They may be witnesses, but not partakers. 

The almost universal verdict among Christians 
through all history is, that the unsaved have no lot or 
part in this commemoration of the death of the Son 
of God, and that to invite them will do violence to the 
sacred memorial. The most notable, and indeed al- 
most the only, exception was the admission of infants 
to the Lord's Supper. That practice had its origin with 
the Romish Church, but was later abandoned by them. 
It is still retained in the Greek Church. This case, 
however, strictly speaking, is not an exception. For 
the infant first received what was called baptism, and 
was supposed to be brought by that ordinance in some 
mystical way into relation with Christ and so became 
the child of God. And "infant communion," though 
having the same support as "infant baptism," has 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 37 

found acceptance with no others except the Greek 
Church. 

This case, instead of being an exception, gives added 
emphasis against opening the Lord's Supper to the 
unsaved. They are eliminated by the preeminence 
given to the disciples of Jesus, and their exclusion is 
a self exclusion. And the same thing practically is 
true of those professing salvation but who have not 
followed their Lord in baptism. 

NOT FOR THE UNBAPTIZED. 

The Lord's Supper is not open to the unbaptized. 
Baptism is not essential to salvation, but salvation is 
essential to baptism. Fellowship in baptism is essen- 
tial to fellowship in the Lord's Supper. The saved, 
those having repentance toward God and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, are ready for bap- 
tism, and obedience to their Lord requires them to be 
baptized. But without baptism even the saved are not 
ready for the Lord's Supper — as the man was not 
ready to present himself at the marriage without hav- 
ing on the wedding garment. 

This is the belief and practice of Christians of al- 
most every name, and is considered by nearly all of 
them, with few exceptions here and there, to be the 
law of the Gospel concerning the relation of these 
ordinances. They may differ, they do differ as to 
what is baptism, but with wonderful agreement they 
insist that baptism comes first and the Lord's Supper 
follows. They are almost as unanimous and quite as 



38 The Memorial Supper. 

earnest with the unbaptized as with the unsaved, in 
refusing them a place at the Lord's Table. This is 
their "close communion," and they are right. Other- 
wise, we contravene the New Testament law and do 
violence to the whole system. And this view, too, has 
been held throughout Christian history with most im- 
pressive oneness of belief and practice. Dr. Henry C. 
Vedder, a trustworthy historian, in his "Short History 
of the Baptists," page 143, says : 

"One of the most important revolutions in the practice of 
the English Baptist churches, was the change from strict to 
open communion. As we have seen, the earlier English Bap- 
tists, whether general or particular, held that only the bap- 
tized should partake of the Lora s Supper, believing this to 
be taught by apostolic precedent, as well as implied in the 
symbolism of the two ordinances. 

"In this they agreed with the Anabaptist of Holland and 
Germany, and indeed with the entire Christian church, an- 
cient and modern, under all names. Among all the heresies 
recorded in ecclesiastical literature before the seventeenth cen- 
tury, there is no record of any who held that the unbaptized 
had a right to the Supper of the Lord." 

He mentions a confession of faith issued by some Swiss 
Anabaptists (1512), and says, pages 84-85: "It teaches the 
baptism of believers only, and breaking of bread by those 
alone who have been baptized; and inculcates a pure church 
discipline," 

The exception cited by Dr. Vedder gives emphasis 
to the well-nigh universal practice of requiring that 
baptism precede the Lord's Supper. And that the 
exception was among Baptists, and is called by care- 
ful historians a revolution from their ancient custom, 
makes it all the more impressive. These were excep- 
tional among their brethren, for Baptist people hold it 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 39 

cardinal in their belief and practice, to restrict the 
Lord's Supper to the saved v^ho have also been bap- 
tized. And for this reason they do not invite to this 
Memorial Service either the unsaved or the unbaptized. 
This is their belief and practice in what is commonly, 
but erroneously, called, ''Close Communion." And 
manifestly they accord in this with Christians of every 
name and throughout all ages of Christian history. 
This is fundamental with Baptists, and with the war- 
rant of the Word of God they stand for this, and in- 
sist that baptism be baptism in form and spirit and 
purpose. 

AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE PRINCIPLE. 

This is the practice in our churches. For example, 
at the First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, one Sunday 
morning after the sermon, the pastor gave his usual 
invitation for any who desired to unite with the church. 
Several responded. After making profession of faith 
in Christ, and giving some account of their experience 
of grace, they were received each one of them into 
membership as a candidate for baptism — the baptism 
to come at a subsequent time. Then they resumed their 
place in the audience, and the church proceeded at 
once to observe the Lord's Supper — a large member- 
ship being present, and the service being of exceptional 
beauty and power. But those newly received mem- 
bers, who were yet to be baptized, did not partake of 
the Lord's Supper. 

This occurrence w^as not unusual, and is often du- 



40 The Memorial Supper. 

plicated in Baptist churches. But mark its meaning, 
as illustrative of the subject under discussion. Those 
persons had professed their faith in Christ, had re- 
lated their experience of his saving grace, had declared 
their hope through him of eternal life, and been ac- 
tually received for membership. Yet they did not unite 
in the Lord's Supper, and simply because they had not 
been baptized. And all agree that this is in keeping 
with the New Testament law, and accordant with the 
usage of all Christians through all the centuries. The 
incident puts emphasis on the principle that this Memo- 
rial Service is not for the unbaptized — even if they are 
Christians and we hold them in Christian fellowship. 

The ordinances must be taken in the order in which 
the Master set them ; and must be given their proper 
place in the churches and in the church-life of mem- 
bers. A person cannot stand on the topmost round 
of the ladder unless he first climb the rounds below; 
he cannot walk the mountain summit without first 
scaling the mountain heights. The way is open — wide 
open to the Lord's Supper for all who come, provided 
only they come in the manner and with the prerequi- 
site, as the Lord requires. But there can be no coming 
to the Lord's Supper if baptism be set aside. 

The Memorial Supper is for the baptized disciple 
and not for those unbaptized. If the Christian world 
insist on having different and conflicting views of 
baptism, then there can be no consistent or Scriptural 
union in the Lord's Supper; for those who meet to- 
gether in this' holy Memorial must be of one mind 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 41 

and one heart In belief and practice, concerning the 
other great ordinance. Otherwise, there will be in- 
consistency and discord and variance with the Word 
of God. In the very nature of the case, when a church 
is observing the Supper, the observance must be by its 
own members, possibly including members of "sister 
churches of the like faith and order." If there be 
no fellowship in baptism, there can be no fellowship 
in celebrating the Lord's Supper. 

fellowship with other disciples. 

Disciples observe the Lord's Supper individually, 
and yet not each one by himself. It is no single-handed 
service in which he acts alone. He is in company with 
others, and their joint celebration of the ordinance is 
in the assembly of the saints and as church members. 
This is another and larger phase of the disciple's privi- 
lege. It is his association and fellowship with others 
in the Memorial Service, and in their joint commun- 
ion with their Lord. This service of high companion- 
ship and fellowship in the Lord's Supper, is based on 
a common experience of grace, and fellowship in the 
other great ordinance of the Lord's house, and their 
oneness in doctrine and church-life. Dr. John A.. 
Broadus, in his Commentary on Matthew's Gospel, 
says: 

"The bread and wine symbolize objectively the Savior's 
body and blood; our eating and drinking these symbolize our 
personal union with Christ, and feeding our spiritual nature 
upon him ; and our doing these together with others will^ from 
the nature of the case, like any other action ia commouj pro- 



4:2 The Memorial Supper. 

mote Christian fellowship and unity where these already ex- 
ist. Yet this last is a subordinate and incidental effect of the 
ceremony, and the presence of some in whose piety we lack 
confidence should not prevent our eating the bread and drink- 
ing the wine in remembrance of Christ." 

Fellowship and communion do not mean the same 
thing. They are words of different derivation, and 
stand for different heart conditions and experiences. 
Communion is fellowship in its richer and riper fruit- 
age. Disciples have fellowship with Jesus Christ and 
also fellowship with each other. In the Lord's Supper, 
however, they commune with their Lord, but in fel- 
lowship with each other and in their church relation. 
This is their royal distinction as baptized believers, 
molded into one as a church of Jesus Christ. Dis- 
ciples have relation to the Lord's Supper as individu- 
als but also as gathered into churches. 

There is something gracious and commanding in 
the isolation and preeminence which the Lord pro- 
vides for his disciples in this Memorial Service. There 
is no room for boasting, no spirit of exclusive self- 
merit; but grace has done its amazing work and set 
him on this high eminence. He communes with his 
Lord; he celebrates his Lord's death for sin; but not 
alone. He is in company with other disciples. Their 
joys, their sorrows, too, and their experiences of grace 
are all one. Out of full hearts they sing the praises 
of their Redeemer. 

How sweet and awful is the place, 

With Christ within the doors, 
While everlasting love displays 

The choicest of her stores ! 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 43 

While all our hearts, and all our song, 

Join to admire the feast, 
Each of us cries, with thankful tongue— 

"Lord, why was I a guest?" 

"VMiy was I made to hear thy voice. 

And enter while there's room. 
When thousands make a wretched choice, 

And rather starve than come? 

'Twas the same love that spread the feast, 

That sweetly drew us in; 
Else we had still refused to taste, 

And perished in our sin. 

Their individual communion with Christ has its 
basis in individual fellowship with him ; and their joint 
communion with him as their Lord, so abounding in 
humble but rapturous joy, has its basis in a common 
relation which they, through faith, sustain to him. He 
is theirs and they are his; he is the Savior and they 
the saved through him. Christ is their all and in all, 
and together in their fellowship and common church- 
life they commune with him, and he communes with 
them, in their observance of the Supper which he has 
appointed. The church is honored and glorified in 
faithful observance of the ordinance; and the disci- 
ples find themselves inseparable from their churches 
in this Memorial observance. But this is their larger 
blessing rather than their limitation. The command- 
ments of the Lord are not grievous, and the ordinances 
of the Lord's house are their delight and song. 

in the church congregation. 
The Lord's Supper is not for the individual disci- 



44 The Memorial Supper. 

pie by himself ; and yet it is not a social meal, and its 
observance is not a family gathering. Natural bonds 
and family ties do not count in the kingdom of God, 
nor in the churches of Jesus Christ. If kindred meet at 
the Lord's Table, that were an occasion for rejoicing, 
and yet they do not meet there as kindred, but as dis- 
ciples in the Lord Jesus. They are there, every one on 
the same basis, requiring the same qualification and 
prerequisite. Discipleship is more than kinship— more 
than even the mother-relation. If kindred lack the re- 
quirement they eliminate themselves ; and their exclu- 
sion is self-exclusion with no blame against the Lord 
or the Lord's people. 

Church membership does not rest on human kin- 
ship, nor can church relation be determined by family 
relation. No family badge entitles to place or part in 
thi,s Memorial institution. It is a service for disciples in 
their church-capacity and organization. Its observance 
is in the church congregation, and its appointed regu- 
lations are imperative. The Lord set his Memorial in 
his churches, and entrusted its keeping to those who 
love him and keep his commandments. Their fellow- 
ship as church members is larger and loftier than their 
fellowship as disciples. Church fellowship is more 
than Christian fellowship. It means a common ex- 
perience of grace, and a covenant in the Lord one with 
the other. It means oneness in faith and practice, con- 
cerning doctrine and the ordinances and church-life. 
It is the basis of their joint celebration of the Lord's 
Supper in the church, and perhaps finds its highest 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 45 

expression and richest fruitage in jointly communing 
with their common Lord. 

From the first, disciples of our Lord were gathered 
into churches, and these churches with their ordinances 
and appointments became the embodiment of organic 
Christianity. In the onward progress of the kingdom, 
disciples were more multiplied, and that meant also 
multiplying the churches of Jesus Christ — at Jerusa- 
lem, at Antioch, at Ephesus, at Corinth, and many 
others. Each church was a separate body, complete 
in itself, independent in organization, its membership 
a converted membership. They were accordant with 
each other in faith and practice, in mission and spirit, 
in their "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." 

THE CHURCH THE HIGHEST ORGANIZATION. 

Even with the New Testament churches some were 
better than others, and some members were better than 
other members. But their members then, as now, were 
gathered out of the various walks of life and wrought 
into one as believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And, notwithstanding many imperfections, no 
other body on earth is comparable to a church of 
Christ, made after his pattern, keeping his law and 
ordinances, and fulfilling its mission according to his 
appointment. 

The Lord made his churches from the first the cus- 
todian of his ordinances, and with marvelous confi- 
dence entrusted them with a great treasure. He has 
placed the Lord's Supper in their keeping as part of 



46 The Memorial Supper. 

their organic structure and life — as the human heart 
has its place in the human body. Without it you 
cannot have a church of Christ. Its observance is a 
church observance — as a throb of the chest is a throb 
of the heart — nor can you have a heart without a body 
in which to live and beat. As a memorial it is a serv- 
ice for disciples, but for them as church members, 
and under the government and supervision of the 
church. 

Thus the Lord looks to his disciples gathered into 
churches, as those who love him, to keep his ordi- 
nances and to observe them as he has commanded — 
even as a mother in her dying moment commits a 
memento to her boy, and looks to him for its keeping 
in honor of her memory and in token of his love; 
even more than this, as the Savior is out of all com- 
parison with all human kinship. There is such a thing 
as church allegiance, and responsibility, and loyalty, 
and obedience, in high token of love for her Master ; 
and these show themselves in faithful care and observ- 
ance of the ordinances of the Lord's house. 

For this reason the Lord's Supper is a church-or- 
dinance in the largest and most exalted sense, and the 
Memorial Service a church celebration — disciples in 
company celebrating the Lord Jesus in his death on 
the cross. For this reason, too, disciples must have 
church-membership as qualification for uniting in this 
holy service. And this means, of course, that the dis- 
ciple is in accord with the faith, and the spirit, and 
the life of the other disciples who make up the mem- 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 4^ 

bers of the fold. Here, too, they find communion with 
their Lord, and here they celebrate his dying love and 
his death for sin; and here they praise him for their 
own redemption and remission through his blood. In 
the very nature of the case, and without controversy 
it would seem, there must be fellowship and oneness 
with those who meet at the Lord's Table. Otherwise, 
there would be discordant notes in the music, where 
the song should be rapturous and heavenly. This is 
church fellowship in the Memorial Supper of our 
Lord, and it ripens in its richness into church com- 
munion with him. It is like heavenly manna upon the 
soul. 

Blest be the tie that binds 

Our hearts in Christian love; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 

Is like to that above. 

Before our Father's throne, 

We pour our fervent prayers; 
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, 

Our comforts and our cares. 

In this blessed fellowship, however, and this deep 
sense of devotion, we must not be so absorbed in the 
exalted privilege and blessings which have come to us, 
as to lose ourselves in self-contemplation. The crown- 
ing glory of the Supper is the Lord himself and its 
memorial character in honor of him. Without him the 
ordinance is worthless and a hollow mockery — a form 
of godliness without its power. But with him pres- 
ent, all is transformed. There is life, and power, 



4^ The Memorial Supper. 

and beauty, and richness of sentiment beyond com- 
pare. 

A RECOGNITION OF JESUS AS LORD. 

"No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy 
Spirit," who is present in power, and takes the things 
of Jesus and shows them unto us. We meet in his 
honor and tell over again the story of his sufferings 
and death. He is as a "Lamb that had been slain," 
whether in the midst of the throne worshiped by 
angels, or in his Memorial Supper where his people 
celebrate the work of redemption through his atoning 
blood shed on Calvary. 

But, though the shadow and chill of the cross after 
all these years are still upon the scene, we are yet 
again in the holy mount. Through these simple em- 
blems we are, as the apostles were, eyewitnesses of 
his majesty, and hear afresh that voice from the ex- 
cellent glory : "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." 

Every observance of the Lord's Supper is a fresh 
coronation of Jesus. We look to "the everlasting king- 
dom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," and crown 
him in our hearts as King of kings and Lord of lords. 
This simple memorial, in its marvelous power, will 
keep before the world, forever, "The Divine Man of 
Calvary" — "in whom are hid all the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge" — "for in him dwelleth all the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily" — "who being in the 
form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with 



A Memorial Service for Disciples. 49 

God." Here we assemble to do him homage in the 
worship of our hearts. 

We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels 
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. . . . 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God, . . . and the Word was made flesh, 
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only 
begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. . . . And 
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty 
God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. . . . For it 
pleased the Father that in liim should all fullness dwell. . . . 
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the 
glory of God the Father. 

In the power of these great utterances from the 
Word of God, and in helping to realize their truth to 
the human heart and conscience, the Lord's Supper is 
a witness for the Lordship of Jesus. And as he ap- 
pears in this Memorial Service, and reappears again 
and again, with the marks of the cross still upon him, 
we recognize our risen Lord. It is the manifest token, 
"of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
Mark this, therefore, as the thing for emphasis : in the 
Lord's Supper there is the cross and the crown — there 
is the Lamb and the Lord; and this glorious paradox 
is the song of angels, and of the redeemed host, 
whether in heaven or on earth — ^my Lord and my God 
— *Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; a scepter 
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." 

The sentiment of the Lord's Supper is preeminently 

the sentiment of worship — a forerunner and foregleam 

of the heavenly kingdom and of the songs of praises 

which are sung there around the throne. It makes of 

4 



50 The Memorial Supper. 

our churches in this service a very Mount Zion. And 
those who love their Lord here assemble to celebrate 
his dying love and honor him in his ordinance. 

I love thy kingdom, Lord, 

The house of thine abode; 
The church our blest Redeemer saved. 

With his own precious blood. 

I love thy church, God; 

Her walls before thee stand; 
Dear as the apple of thine eye. 

And graven on thy hand. 

For her my tears shall fall; 

For her my prayers ascend; 
To her my cares and toil be given, 

Till toils and cares shall end. 

Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heavenly ways, 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 

Her hymns of love and praise. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE CHRISTIAN HOLY OF HOLIES. 

Ex. 25: 8, 22: "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may 
dwell among them. . . . And there (in the Holy of holies in 
the Tabernacle) I will meet with thee, and I will commune 
with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two 
cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all 
things which I will give thee in commandment unto the chil- 
dren of Israel." 

1 Kings 8:11-13,27: "The glory of the Lord had filled the 
house of the Lord. Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that 
he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built 
thee an house (the temple with its holy of holies) to dwell in, 
a settled place for thee to abide in forever. . . , But will God 
indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven 
of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house 
that I have builded?" 

1 Cor. 10: 16: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not 
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we 
break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we 
being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all par- 
takers of that one bread." 

|N the first of these three passages God speaks 
to Moses of the Tabernacle and its Holy of 
holies. In the second, many centuries after, 
and at the dedication of the Temple, Solo- 
mon makes recognition of God's presence in its Holy 
of holies, when the glory of the Lord filled the house 
of the Lord. In the third, many centuries later still, 
the great apostle emphasizes and defines somewhat one 
of the great ordinances of the new dispensation. The 




52 The Memorial Supper. 

continuity of thought, running through and through 
like a golden thread, and knitting the centuries in won- 
drous way, is in the words "commune" and "commun- 
ion" — commune with thee in the Holy of holies, com- 
munion of the body of Christ and of the blood of 
Christ. 

THE ANCIENT HOLY OF HOLIES. 

In the Tabernacle and also in the Temple, which was 
its duplicate in form and its double in size, there were 
the Holy place and the Most Holy place. They were 
fashioned after the pattern shown in the Mount, and 
after the pattern, too, of things in the heavens. There 
was the porch on the outside; then the inner court 
with its necessary and significant furniture — altar of 
burnt offering and the great brazen laver ; then came 
the holy place, wherein the priests assembled in wor- 
ship, with its furniture — the table of shew bread, the 
golden candlestick and the altar of incense; then still 
further within was the Holy of holies — a small cham- 
ber fifteen feet in dimensions and a cube in form. 

The Holy of holies was finely finished within. There 
was only one piece of furniture, viz., the Ark of the 
Covenant of God; the covering of the Ark, overlaid 
with gold, was the mercy seat, above which were the 
two cherubim with outstretched wings, each touching 
the other and overcovering all. No one entered this 
sacred chamber save only the high priest, and he only 
once a year, clothed in special garments and bearing 
the blood of the lamb as an atonement. There was no 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 53 

light of window or candle, and in its thick darkness 
God made his dwelling; but the darkness disappeared 
when the Shechinah came in as the visible symbol of 
God's presence, and the glory of the Lord filled the 
house of the Lord. 

Thus the ancient Holy of holies stood within at the 
very heart of things, separated by outer and inner 
walls, and then further isolated by the grandeur of its 
purpose and holiness of its use. It stood for the I\Iost 
Holy place in the heavenly temple; it was heaven 
brought down to earth — the inner sacred and secret 
chamber, within whose holy precincts God came with 
message and blessing, while the mercy seat shone re- 
splendent with heavenly splendor. 

There is no need or intention to spiritualize on Tab- 
ernacle or Temple or Holy of holies. There is ample 
room both for the fanciful, as has often been done, and 
the real also, with many great lessons which the world 
is slow to learn and has learned as yet only in part. 
But suffice it to say, these all with their elaborate and 
gorgeous ceremony and service, exalted in stately fash- 
ion, were yet the symbols of something higher. And 
we do well to look through and beyond the symbols 
to the eternal realities. But Tabernacle and Temple 
and their Holy of holies have all passed away and 
there is nothing to take their place, not even in sem- 
blance. And yet, their one great lesson of the presence 
of God, and of his exalted and glorious character, re- 
mains as the common heritage of his people. This 
is the thought running through these scriptures and 



54 The Memorial Supper. 

binding the centuries together — expressed in the noble 
words commune and communion. 

HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

The building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness 
and of the Temple at Jerusalem, and the institution 
of the Lord's Supper, had a certain oneness of charac- 
ter and lofty purpose. They mark each of them an 
epoch in the national life of the Hebrew, and in the 
religious thought of the world. There is nothing that 
holds the centuries together or that binds human hearts 
and nations into closer bonds than the thought and 
the worship of God. 

The world has not yet recognized the salutary and 
uplifting power of worship in the nation's life. The 
churches — not "The Church" — ^but the churches, thou- 
sands and thousands of them, scattered throughout the 
land as an allied power with the home, are the salt 
and salvation in the nation's life. They are mighty 
forces for good, always at war with the forces of evil. 
The Lord's Supper may be called the Holy of holies 
in the Christian system by way of emphasis and illus- 
tration — the Hebrew Holy of holies and the Christian 
Holy of holies. And there is no violence done to truth 
in any sense, by bringing them together for compara- 
tive study, but rather an illustrative advantage for the 
enforcement of the great lessons which they hold in 
common. 

SETTING THEM IN COMPARISON. 

Calling the Lord's Supper the Holy of holies in the 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 55 

new dispensation, accords with universal Christian 
sentiment everywhere and at all times. It is considered 
the most holy of church ordinances and the most sacred 
of church services. This is seen in the names given to 
it, like Eucharist, the Holy Communion, etc., and the 
sacrificial efficacy ascribed to it. Some of these are 
extravagant, some are wholly, even dangerously, er- 
roneous, but they show the high rank which the ordi- 
nance holds in the Christian heart through the cen- 
turies and in all countries. The errors and gross 
misconception are to be set aside with deliberate and 
strong hand, but the ordinance itself should be mag- 
nified and glorified as our Lord's Memorial Supper in 
his churches, and as the Christian Holy of holies in 
worship. This holds it where our Master put it, and 
his touch has crowned it with honor and distinction 
and genuine greatness. 

Set the two institutions before you in imagination 
and think them into a vivid picture until you see them 
as realities for comparison. There on the one hand, 
the Holy of holies, a small chamber with its holy fur- 
niture and at the very heart first of the Tabernacle, 
then of the Temple; with but one door for entrance 
and that one closed by hanging vail to all except the 
high priest with the blood of atonement; not lighted 
day or night except by the luminous cloud, symbol of 
the divine presence. It stood within by itself, the most 
distinguished place on earth, and pattern of what is 
in the heavens. We stand in awe before the vailed 
doorway, and wonder with great wonder. 



56 The Memorial Supper. 

But, on the other hand, is the Lord's Table, very 
simple, covered, as you have often seen, with pure 
white linen ; underneath the linen the bread and wine 
for use as the elements in the memorial celebration. 
There the two stand, side by side, both institutions or 
structures made from divine plan and by divine com- 
mandment — their pattern from heaven, their service 
on earth — a spectacle worth the sight and wonder of 
angels. Though separated by so many centuries, yet 
coming from God each with its own great purpose set 
in symbol, they command attention and hold in com- 
parisons lessons of immense moment. 

SIMPLE YET MAGNIFICENT. 

I. The comparison shows the moral magnificence of 
the Memorial Supper, This is seen in its spiritual 
meaning. Its significance is out of all proportion to 
its appearance; plain without, but magnificent within. 
The ancient Holy of holies was plain, comparatively 
speaking, and especially in the Tabernacle. It was 
made with boards of shittim wood, set upright one 
to the other, finely finished and well set, of course, 
with overhanging drapery. And yet there was noth- 
ing to dazzle or startle or even indicate its hidden 
mysteries. But within, everything was overlaid with 
gold ; the ark, the mercy seat, the cherubim — all over- 
laid with fine gold, and ablaze with the splendor of 
the Shechinah. The thick darkness was gone and in 
its stead the eternal splendor of his throne. 

So with the Christian Holy of holies — can anything 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 57 

be more simple? An ordinary table and table linen; 
and when the linen is lifted, nothing there but plate 
and urn with bread and wine as the elements for the 
service ; and when these are passed out by the preacher 
through the deacons to the people, as you have seen 
many times over, there is only eating the bread and 
sipping the wine. But look within and how magnifi- 
cent it all becomes ! not in gold metal, but in spiritual 
truth and doctrinal significance. There is nothing 
to dazzle the eye, but a wondrous vision overpowering 
the heart and melting the eyes to tears. It is the cele- 
bration afresh of the first Supper on that memorable 
night, when the shadows were gathering and becoming 
more dark and awful. 

AS THE SYMBOL OF DOCTRINE. 

Think of the Christian Holy of holies as a chamber, 
and venture within. There you find wonders such as 
the world never looks upon elsewhere. The marvelous 
meaning and spiritual magnificence of this beautiful 
ordinance begin to appear as we study the simple em- 
blems. His words are still heard from the far-oif cen- 
turies, like music full of sorrow and pathos that almost 
breaks the heart of those who love : 'This is my body 
broken for you ; this is my blood shed for many for the 
remission of sins." 

The doctrines of the Lord's Supper are its wonder 
and glory — doctrines which are the world's only hope, 
and which can never perish from the earth while this 
simple ordinance holds its place in the affections and 



58 The Memorial Supper. 

practice of the followers of our Lord. But these doc- 
trines, this spiritual magnificence, are seen not on the 
outside but within. The doctrine of grace is there with 
sin as its dark and terrible background, as the rainbow 
on the cloud; it is the doctrine of man's ruin and re- 
demption, seen there in the symbol of bread and wine. 
It is the doctrine of God's amazing love and grace in 
Christ Jesus — the wonder of angels and the incredible 
with men. The doctrine of the believer's union with 
Christ, and participation in his suffering and death, is 
there — their oneness with him and their life in him is 
the wonderful meaning of the eating and drinking. 
The doctrine of substitution and atonement through 
death on the cross, is there — all he wrought in shed- 
ding his blood on Calvary and all he accomplishes at 
the mercy seat in the heavens, are celebrated here in 
this memorial of his love. This is at once the glory of 
the cross and of the Lord's Supper. And the cross 
means the death of the Lord Jesus, as substitution and 
remission of sin in its relation to man, but as atonement 
and propitiation and reconciliation in its relation to 
God. The setti^ig forth in symbol of these v>^onders in 
the scheme of redemption, is what gives to the Memo- 
rial Supper its mighty hold in Christian hearts and 
lives. It is the glory of God's forgiving grace shining 
in the face of Jesus Christ. 

Oh, this simple service, what exhibition it makes of 
wonders unspeakable ! The glory of heaven rests upon 
this table as the Shechinah rested within the Holy of 
holies between the cherubim above the mercy seat. We 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 59 

behold this as the Hebrew beheld that — simple to look 
upon but wonderful and glorious in meaning; plain 
without but magnificent within. 

Arise, my soul, arise; 

Shake off thy guilty fears. 
The bleeding sacrifice 

In my behalf appears; 
Before the throne my Surety stands, 
My name is written on his hands. 

He ever lives above. 

For me to intercede; 
His all redeeming love. 

His precious blood to plead; 
His blood atoned for all our race. 
And sprinkles now the throne of grace. 

Five bleeding wounds he bears, 

Received on Calvary; 
They pour effectual prayers. 

They strongly plead for me; 
Forgive him, oh, forgive, they cry, 
Nor let the ransomed sinner die. 

My God is reconciled; 

His pardoning voice I hear; 
He owns me for his child; 

I can no longer fear; 
With confidence I now draw nigh. 
And Father, Abba Father, cry. 

This is a picture in song and music of what may 
be seen in every observance of the Memorial Supper. 
And what a living picture it presents, full of vividness 
and power! The Lord Jesus Christ, fresh from Cal- 
vary, enters as our great High Priest the Holy of holies 
on high; five bleeding wounds he bears and pleads; 
our sacrifice and surety in one before the throne ; our 
ransom through the shedding of his precious blood on 



6o The Memorial Supper. 

the cross; our reconciliation with God — opening the 
way for us to the very throne where his Father be- 
comes our Father through faith in him, and where he 
hears the cry of the new heart, Abba Father. All this 
finds its impressive and beautiful symbol in the Supper 
and gives marvelous meaning to the Memorial Service. 
And what we see here in symbol has its full counter- 
part in glorious fact and reality. 

Christ entered "into heaven itself, now to appear in 
the presence of God for us" ; and "after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right 
hand of God." "Having therefore boldness to enter 
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. . . . Let us 
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." 

GOD WITHIN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 

2. The comparison emphasises the personal pres- 
ence of our Lord in the celebration of the Lord's Sup- 
per, Present in the heavens as our Advocate, and yet 
here in this Memorial Service. Not the "real pres- 
ence," as taught by the Romish Church in its mon- 
strous doctrine of trans-substantiation. Of course not. 
They claim that by miracle often repeated the bread 
is changed into flesh and the wine into blood. But 
that error, gross as it is, has at base the fundamental 
fact of the Savior's presence at the Supper. Nearly 
every error is but the perversion of fact or truth. It 
is so here, and for "real presence" as advocated by 
them we substitute personal presence. 

Our Lord is present not in the elements but with the 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 6i 

elements. Your guest is with you at your table, but is 
not of the table. Christ is present in the Memorial 
Service, but not in the bread and wine. He and his 
disciples are both alike present, but neither one nor 
the other is in the elements. His presence is real in the 
ordinance, but not in the elements, as your guest is 
present in your house but not in the brick and mortar. 
God was within the Holy of holies, though the heaven 
of heavens cannot contain him. This was its great 
lesson for the Hebrews. It was the overpowering 
thought with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. 
Standing there before the altar of the Lord, and in the 
presence of all the congregation, he exclaimed: "Be- 
hold, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens cannot 
contain thee; how much less this house which I have 
built !'* And God answered with the incoming of the 
Shechinah, for "the glory of the Lord had filled the 
house of the Lord." 

The glory of the Holy of holies in Tabernacle and 
Temple was what it had within — the ark, the mercy 
seat, the cherubim, all overlaid with gold, but pre- 
eminently this — God was within. He was there pres- 
ent and emphasized by cloud and word, his personality 
and his being locally accessible to men. The Taber- 
nacle was the tent of God among the tents of the 
people. The Temple was his dwelling place among 
men. His name was written there and his glory dwelt 
there. 

God is indeed infinite in being and work — invisible, 
eternal, immortal, the only wise God, who only hath 



62 The Memorial Supper. 

immortality, dwelling in light which no man can ap- 
proach, before whom even the seraphim in the heavens 
veil their faces as they chant their thrice holy. And 
yet he localizes himself and makes himself accessible 
to men; he bends the heavens and comes down; he 
encompassed himself within that small chamber. The 
very glory of his throne and the greater glory of his 
being and person covered the mercy seat and changed 
thick darkness into heavenly splendor. 

SHOWING himself IN SYMBOLS. 

We speak of the miracles of the Bible; there is 
only one miracle, viz., the God of the Bible. With him 
present, all other miracles are easy, and even a neces- 
sary outcome of his being and personal activity in 
providence and grace. God has his throne in the 
heaven of heavens, beyond the stars that shine in the 
far away distance, and yet he shows himself here pres- 
ent in the symbol of the cloud, with his ears open to 
the cry of his people in their sorrow or to their praises 
in the hour of triumph and joy. 

All this IS fully matched in the Holy of holies in the 
New Dispensation. God is most glorious when seen 
in Jesus Christ. His grace, in its exhibition on the 
cross, outshines all the wonders of the stars. And 
here, in this marvelous symbolism of the cross and its 
mighty work, our Lord comes down to us — from his 
throne in the heaven to this holy service. These simple 
emblems, like the luminous cloud in the Holy of 
holies, and as a Shechinah for us, are powerful in 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 63 

making his presence felt. There is no change in 
bread or wine. They are only symbols, but symbols of 
realities. And among these realities is the personal 
presence of the Lord Jesus. No, we do not consecrate 
the wafer or worship the wafer; but in our hearts we 
worship him for whom and for whose broken body 
and shed blood these symbols stand. The symbols are 
figurative, but his presence is personal and not figura- 
tive — as actual as the presence of his disciples. 

In the Holy of holies God met Moses to "commune 
with" him. In the Holy Supper — called forever the 
Lord's Supper— our Lord meets and communes with 
us about the death wherein once he died, and the life 
wherein he is alive again for evermore. His death is 
the subject both of communion and celebration, and 
these emblems are the symbol and emphasis of his 
personal presence. No wonder that as an ordinance of 
the Lord's house it has the distinction with those who 
love and honor him, of being the "Holy Communion." 
For like the sacred chamber in Tabernacle and Tem- 
ple, it stands within by itself, beautiful in service, and 
by its symbols emphasizes the presence of our risen 
and glorified Lord. 

The symbol of the cloud and the symbol of bread 
and wine make his presence in a manner visible and 
tangible and full of tremendous power. This claim 
for his presence here is no disparagement of his pres- 
ence with his people at other times. But while God is 
present everywhere, yet in a real and profound sense 
also, the Holy of holies was more than all others a 



64 The Memorial Supper. 

special place, and the Lord's Supper is more than 
any other a special service. 

HIS PRESENCE HERE IS SPECIAL. 

Christ promised that wheresoever two or three 
should assemble in his name he would be with them; 
and throughout the centuries and in all countries he 
has made good that promise. He promised also, when 
giving his great commission, and has never failed of 
its fulfillment, to be with his people in making and 
baptizing disciples, and in teaching them to observe 
his commandments — alway and unto the end of the 
age. He promised also to the individual who loves 
him and keeps his commandments, special manifesta- 
tion of himself as he does not unto the world. And 
moreover, the humblest child of God in the humblest 
place on earth may count on his Lord's personal pres- 
ence, as a very present help in time of trouble. All 
these promises find their conditions and fulfillment in 
the Lord's Supper. 

But in addition to all this, it seems manifest, that 
the presence of Christ in his Memorial ordinance, like 
God's presence in the Holy of holies, if not exceptional, 
is yet special. There was the presence of Jesus when 
asleep in the hinder part of the ship, when walking the 
waves of the boisterous sea, and when troubled and 
groaning in spirit at the grave of Lazarus. All that is 
full of interest and mighty power in the life of our 
Lord. But somehow there seems a difference, when he 
meets with his disciples in the upper room, under the 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 65 

gathering shadows of that night with its precious 
memory words. He came then to celebrate the tragedy 
which was coming on the morrow, and which was al- 
ready making his soul exceeding sorrowful. 

There was in that meeting something exceptional, 
as our hearts feel to this day a touch of unusual 
pathos and power and blessedness. So now with his 
presence in this Memorial ordinance when he comes 
again with the memories of that night; there is a dif- 
ference. Oh, there must be a difference — a difference 
which the heart feels but cannot easily put into words. 

The heart often goes beyond its explanation, when 
feeling out after the Savior and when in the experience 
of his love, like the flower opening itself to sunshine 
and shower. This blessed communion is our com- 
munion with him. He meets us here by appointment, 
and his presence is the glory of the Lord's Supper. He 
comes again to celebrate his death, as Moses and Eli- 
jah met him on the mount and communed with him 
concerning the approaching hour of darkness. 

Somehow, these symbols catch the picture of the 
far-off cross on which the Prince of glory died for 
man the creature's sin. That awful scene comes into 
view once more, but now lighted up with the glory of 
redemption. We look on that dear form, and hear 
again his dying groans, while our hearts ache in suf- 
fering with him. But our sorrow breaks into joy like 
sunlight on the cloud, as we hear once more that 
blessed voice, heard so often before, in words clear, 
strong, triumphant: "I am he that liveth, and was 
5 



66 The Memorial Supper. 

dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore." And 
standing in this new Holy of holies in communion 
with him our hearts burn within us, as he makes him- 
self known "in the breaking of bread." 

ISOLATED AND YET ACCESSIBLE. 

3. The comparison shows the isolation of the Lord's 
Supper. Isolated by the spiritual condition and cere- 
monials which are prerequisite. Isolated because it 
is the Lord's Table, and yet accessible by the Lord's 
gracious invitation and provision. Accessible like the 
Holy of holies to those who come to its exalted serv- 
ice, as God appointed. There is no room to question 
the isolation, either of the Holy of holies or of the 
Lord's Supper, yet we rejoice that they are accessible. 

Knowing their requirement is the first step in find- 
ing the way to their open door. The isolation is two- 
fold : ( I ) The divine prescription ; God set ceremonial 
prerequisites about both these institutions ; this is statu- 
tory, positive concerning them both, and no one can 
otherwise cross their threshold without violation of 
God's law ; but (2) their further isolation is in the very 
nature of the institutions themselves, and in their pur- 
pose, and in the character of their service ; this is spir- 
itual, requires spiritual qualification for discernment 
and service, and in itself is isolative. What could 
others do in such presence, except those invited and 
qualified to come as invited? What could others do in 
the Holy of holies, except the high priest? And even 
he would not venture within the sacred inclosure, or 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 67 

undertake its holy service, except at the time, and in 
the manner, and even in the apparel required by law. 
The same great principle holds concerning the Lord's 
Supper. There is no way but God's way in coming to 
his ordinance; and obedience is the only course open 
to us whether in a spiritual condition or a ceremonial 
requirement. 

There is here, indeed, a wide open door for all who 
come in the proper way and with the required qualifi- 
cations. And yet there is enough to hold men and 
angels abashed at the doorway of either the Holy of 
holies or of the Memorial Supper in a church of Jesus 
Christ. The service is a holy service and requires 
ceremonial preparation. We cannot rid ourselves of 
the ceremonial necessity any more than we can make 
for ourselves the spiritual fitness. God requires the 
ceremonial, and the ceremonial becomes essential in 
the purpose of his requirement. But the restriction is 
the restriction of love on God's part, and its recogni- 
tion on our part is the obedience of love. 

BOTH spiritual AND CEREMONIAL. 

One is almost startled at the importance and tre- 
mendous emphasis given to the ceremonial in Taber- 
nacle and Temple worship. Indeed, the Holy of hoHes 
was itself a ceremonial in Israel; the Lord's Supper 
also is a ceremonial in his church. The root meaning 
of the word is to do. In religion the spiritual is feel- 
ing, the ceremonial is doing ; the spiritual is loving and 
fearing God, the ceremonial is keeping God's com- 



6S The Memorial Supper. 

mandments. The two must go together. The spiritual 
is experience and gives value to the ceremonial, the 
ceremonial gives expression to the spiritual and in a 
high sense is the school of obedience. The spiritual 
condition is necessary as moral fitness, the ceremonial 
is imperative because of God's statutory requirement. 
The spiritual holds us, anci we must hold the cere- 
monial. The outward observance without the heart is 
also without value — a body with the life gone, the 
form of godliness without its power. But discarding 
the ceremonial, even if one could still retain the spirit- 
ual, will surely open the flood gates of evil. When 
God marks out a line, whether in the Old Testament 
or the New, that line has forever the preeminence as 
a course of conduct. 

The Holy of holies had its isolation by building 
within building, room within room, service within serv- 
ice — within the innermost chamber of Tabernacle and 
Temple with its holy furniture and the visible Majesty 
of divine presence. Only the High Priest could enter, 
and he only once a year ; while the priests of the Tem- 
ple waited and worshiped in the holy place, they were 
not allowed to enter the Most Holy place. It was ac- 
cessible, and yet how isolated by these restrictions and 
these exalted and glorious conditions ! How exclusive 
it was! How remote! How far away it must have 
seemed to the Hebrews who gathered in the Temple. 
And even to us now, as we look yonder through door- 
way after doorway, far within as the imagination goes, 
to the sacred vail which divided between the holy and 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 69 

the Most Holy. We rejoice in the open door but 
stand in awe as we look within the sacred enclosure. 
When finding fault with the exclusiveness of the Sup- 
per, call to mind, by way of comparison, the exclusive- 
ness in which God set the Holy of holies. 

There is less ceremony in the New Testament, but 
not less obligation. The isolation of the Lord's Sup- 
per is just as real, and removes it as far within, and 
should awaken as profound sense of concern. It is not 
less exalted though more simple, nor less holy in na- 
ture and purpose, nor less restricted in its condition as 
a New Testament ceremonial. This great ordinance 
which no man might touch of himself, is yet open 
to us — indeed, wide open to every one — ^but only in 
the way our Lord has marked out. It was his hand 
that laid the restriction and his grace that opened the 
way. 

The Lord's Supper requires only one condition, and 
that one condition can be expressed in a single word, 
simple and comprehensive, viz., church-membership. 
Of course, it must be church-membership in the full- 
ness of its meaning. This is the Supper's isolation, as 
inevitable and imperative as the isolation of the Holy 
of holies in Tabernacle and Temple, and is a well- 
recognized principle. It holds its place, and has ever 
held its place in the confessions of faith with all de- 
nominations of Christians — with scarcely an exception. 
They differ in their conceptions of the church, and as 
to conditions of membership, and in their definition 
of terms, but are of one mind and one heart in the prin- 



70 The Memorial Supper. 

ciple, that only church members should come to this 
holy ordinance. 

so DESIGNED BY THE BUILDERS. 

The Lord's Supper is a church ordinance for church 
administration to church members. This is one of the 
universals of Christian belief and practice. Moses 
built the Tabernacle and set the Holy of holies far 
within ; Solomon built the Temple, both working after 
a divine pattern, and set the Holy of holies within, and 
far aloft by steps and stairway, as a dwelling place for 
the Shechinah ; Christ built his church and set his Holy 
Supper within — far within. Not in the house, of 
course, but within the church organization, an essen- 
tial part of its organic structure and organic life, and 
necessarily for the observance of church members. 

This is a plain, common-sense statement of a New 
Testament principle, with the emphasis and enforce- 
ment of an Old Testament illustration. The High 
Priest had to enter the Holy of holies before he could 
minister between the cherubim — entrance first and then 
ministry — for the simple reason the cherubim were 
within over the mercy seat. You cannot partake of the 
wedding feast unless you first enter the wedding hall. 
So here one must surely enter where the ordinance is, 
before he can share in its celebration — first entrance — 
first church membership — then fellowship and partici- 
pation in the ordinance of the Lord's house. This is 
simple and yet lofty in scope and purpose. Isolated 
the ordinance surely is, far away removed by spiritual 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 71 

and ceremonial distances, as with the Holy of holies; 
and yet accessible — as wide open as the invitations of 
grace. But these glorious things must be taken in 
their order as graded steps — each one in its rightful 
succession, until you stand within at the Lord's Table 
as the Lord has prescribed. Without this there is no 
access, with this there is an open door with fullness of 
blessing. 

After the New Testament pattern, membership in a 
church is something definite and clearly defined. It 
requires four things as prerequisite to the Memorial 
Service: (i) An experience of grace through faith in 
the Lord Jesus, as a necessary spiritual condition of 
entrance to its membership; (2) Baptism upon per- 
sonal profession of faith, as a privilege within, and a 
necessary ceremonial required of those who give their 
heart to the Savior; (3) Fellowship in the Apostle's 
Doctrine; (4) A life becoming the gospel of Christ, 
and in recognition of him as Savior and King and 
Lord over all. 

This puts the Lord's Supper far within, isolated by 
the sacred enclosure of a godly life lived within his 
church. And isolation within these lines is God's law, 
and stands for a great principle in the kingdom and 
service and worship of God. This seems remote, as 
far away as the sacred chamber in Tabernacle and 
Temple, and yet like that it is accessible also, wide 
open to the proper person, and for all who come as the 
Lord requires, whether you or me or others. What 
more can we ask than this ? Seeing that God isolate4 



73 The Memorial Supper. 

the old we may well expect that he will also isolate the 
new with spiritual and ceremonial qualifications and 
prerequisites. 

They are his requirements and are imperative. Com- 
ing to the Supper without the ceremonial, we violate 
God's law; coming without the spiritual, we not only 
violate the law but have no power to discern the Lord's 
body and the Lord's death. This is not to eat the 
Lord's Supper. A blind man cannot enter an art gal- 
lery. Oh, yes, you can fling open the door, lead him 
into the building, let him tramp around rough-shod — 
but what is all that to him — those mighty pictures on 
the walls? A deaf man cannot attend a concert. He 
may enter the hall — wonder at the thing he sees going 
on; but it is all nothing to him — those loftiest strains 
of music are nothing. So is one in the Lord's Me- 
morial Service who knows nothing of the Lord's sav- 
ing grace and power. He is within but not of it. Pres- 
ent at the Supper, but sees nothing of its beauty, feels 
nothing of its charm, hears nothing of its wondrous 
message. He is wanting in the spiritual qualification 
which God requires, and in the heart condition neces- 
sary to the high and exalted service. 

MEETING CEREMONIAL REQUIREMENTS. 

As to the ceremonial prerequisites — they also are of 
God, and are his requirements. The grace is his, and 
the invitation is his, and the isolation is his ; and with 
us it is simply a question of obedience. He has put 
his two ordinances together, ceremonial by ceremonial, 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 73 

each in its place, as fixed by law. The ceremonial of 
baptism is between us and the Lord's Supper, as we 
stand on the outside. We cannot accept one and re- 
ject the other ; we cannot make light of baptism as a 
"mere ceremony," and then clamor for the Lord's Sup- 
per, which is also a ceremony. Why make complaint 
of your Lord in the thing which he requires? We 
cannot have the Lord's Supper unless we first have the 
Lord's baptism. And mark you, it must be baptism, 
such as he commanded, and for which he set exam- 
ple by his own baptism in the river Jordan. 

The vail in the Temple was rent in twain from top 
to bottom when Christ died on the cross, and God made 
a highway to the mercy seat. But he still requires obe- 
dience in heart and life — still requires in the Old and 
no less in the New that we observe his commandment 
and statutes and judgments. From out the Old comes 
the word, enriched by all the glories of Tabernacle and 
Temple : "Fear God, and keep his commandments ; for 
this is the whole duty of man." From out the New 
comes that other word, so marvelous in its charm and 
enforced by all the suffering and wonders of the cross : 
"If ye love me keep my commandments." Fear and 
love in their meaning here, are of the same essence, 
and create a conviction which compels obedience, 
and gives an inner impulse which enriches the obedi- 
ence and crowns it with the glory of the throne. 

This word isolate is strong and impressive as bor- 
rowed from the ancient service, and applied to the 
Memorial Supper. It was first suggested, as one may 



^4 The Memorial Supper. 

readily see, from a study of the diagram of Tabernacle 
and Temple, and by reading what God said about their 
building and service. The meaning of the word gives 
force to its use in comparing the two institutions, be- 
ing derived from the Italian isola — island, shut within, 
enclosed on all sides. So it was in the ancient Holy 
of holies, and so also with the Holy of holies in the 
Christian system. 

As illustrations: think of a church in the figure of 
a building, then the Lord's Supper is isolated, shut 
within the innermost chamber like the Holy of holies 
built by Moses and then by Solomon after the pattern 
shown in the mount. Or again, think of a godly life 
within a church, in the figure of a large, beautiful body 
of water, clear and limpid, reflecting the stars by night 
and the glory of the sunlight by day, then you have the 
Lord's Supper as an island, enclosed on all sides— 
isolated J 2l beautiful island in a beautiful lake. 

Isolated — that is our word expressive of God's 
thought and plan in things that are holy. Isolation of 
the Supper, — shut in with Christ ; with him in his Holy 
Memorial where he meets you to celebrate his death. 
'Isolated — yet accessible. Accessible to all who come as 
he requires, and isolated from all others. This, indeed, 
is the Holy Communion — the Christian Holy of holies. 

MYSTICAL AND YET PRACTICAL. 

4. The comparison shows the mystical character and 
practical worth of the Memorial Supper. Like the an- 
cient Holy of holies, this ordinance, with its emblems. 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 75 

is not only mystical, but its mystical power is one of 
the treasures of its richness. The symbols are more 
simple, but somehow appeal to the heart with match- 
less charm. They show wonderful power to impress 
us with the Savior's presence and to make real, before 
our eyes, his suffering and death in our behalf. They 
appeal to hearts which have experience of his love and 
grace and saving power — hearts that discern in these 
emblems the Lord's body and the Lord's death. The 
Holy Spirit takes the things of Jesus and shows them 
unto us and bears witness with our spirit that we are 
the children of God as heirs and joint heirs. 

Mysticism and the mystical elude close definition. 
They have the same root word as mystery, and yet 
seem different in meaning; mystery being objective 
while mysticism is subjective, and describes conditions 
of mind and heart. Somewhat, possibly, as cause and 
effect — as the flower awakens within us the sensation 
of beauty and fragrance, or the sound of music from 
the outside, reaching the ear and mind, awakens melo- 
dies in our souls. Mysticism is of what we feel in our 
deeper nature, and our feeling cannot always be put 
in words. You may analyze the flower, but not its 
beauty or fragrance; you may measure the song, but 
not its music. 

Below the surface stream, shallow and light. 
Of what we say we feel, below the stream. 

As light, of what we think we feel; — there flows, 
With noiseless current, strong, obscure and deep, 

The central stream of what we feel indeed. 



*^^ The Memorial Supper. 

Mysticism and the mystic have been much under 
the ban, sometimes with rebuke, sometimes with ridi- 
cule and sport. And not too much so, for the sort that 
was intended. That ought to be laughed out of court 
with no chance to return, as a burlesque of what is 
genuine and of noblest practical worth. In sweeping 
away the false, however, we must not allow ourselves, 
for one moment, to question the reality or depreciate 
the worth of the genuine. 

THE deep things OF EXPERIENCE. 

When the human heart is in the experience of the 
deep things of God, then mysticism is inevitable. You 
find the mystical in philosophy, the sphere of unmixed 
thought, they say, and of pure thinking. You find the 
mystical in the sphere of invention and discovery, in 
which Edison lives and has revolutionized the world 
of commerce. You have the mystical in religion, where 
the mind finds its profoundest theme for thinking, and 
the heart its deepest experiences; for here "the Holy 
Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spirit- 
ual, . . . that we may know the things that are 
freely given to us of God." 

This is finely illustrated in the Holy of holies, and 
also in the Holy Supper of our Lord. In the first there 
is the ark, the mercy seat, the cherubim, the Shechinah 
— all of them symbols of realities, invisible and eternal 
in the heavens, but here brought nigh and made ac- 
cessible to the human eye and to the call of the human 
heart. Face to face with God and in the vision of his 



The Christian Holy of Holies. *jy 

glory — this is the profoundest experience possible to 
the human soul. And nothing can be more powerful 
or practical in a man's life. The mystical need not 
make a mystic of the strong man, but should be the 
enrichment of his experience and make his life more 
useful. 

Christ said, "I have meat to eat ye know not of," yet 
he was no mystic. There was nothing dreamy or misty 
with him. His disciples, entranced on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, wanted to encamp there, but he heard 
and made them hear the call of the multitude in the 
valley. His own life was heroic; clear as a sunbeam, 
calm as the stars in their serene depths, yet strenuous 
in doing good. 

Moses met God in the burning bush, received his 
life-message and was entrusted with the gigantic task 
of emancipating a nation. Jacob, after his vision of 
God and the ladder reaching to the throne, and the 
angels descending and ascending, exclaimed: "Surely 
the Lord is in this place and I knew it not," and found 
a new life. Elijah at Horeb, after the passing of the 
earthquake and the storm, heard the still, small voice, 
which awakened him to a sense of responsibility, 
served to correct his judgment, and was his call to 
duty. The Apostle Paul, caught up into the third 
heaven, even into Paradise (whether in the body or out 
of the body, he could not tell), heard and saw things 
which could not be put into human speech. But ever 
afterwards he was a stronger man, full of wondrous 
words for the comfort of God's people, and concerning 



78 The Memorial Supper. 

things invisible and the house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. 

All this is mystical, but none the less practical. When 
God takes hold of a man, it is for betterment first in the 
domain of the man's own being, and then for his mis- 
sion in the world. When God breathes upon a valley 
of dry bones, now as of old the dry bones forthwith 
become a living army. 

EDUCATION THROUGH COMMANDMENTS. 

These great experiences are not lost, do not vanish 
as vapor. They are the occasion for commandments 
and instruction. The experience of the deep things of 
God find embodiment in character and in practical life. 
Symbols have their educational power. There is no 
room to question the practical worth of the symbols 
and emblems and services of these two institutions. It 
was true of the sacred chamber of old, and is true of 
the Holy of holies in the Christian system. Both have 
educative power, the one with the Hebrews through 
centuries of their history, the other with the people of 
God to this day. 

Both have memorials of past achievements and em- 
blems of things to come excelling in glory. Of the 
one, God said, "It shall be a memorial unto you," and 
of the other, Christ said, "Do this in remembrance of 
me" ; of the one, God said to Moses, "I will commune 
with thee there concerning the commandments which 
I will give," — that was the school of heavenly in- 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 7$ 

struction; of the other, Christ promised to be with 
his disciples when ''teaching to observe whatsoever he 
had commanded" — that is the school of heavenly obe- 
dience, 

Moses and his successors in office found their school 
in the Holy of holies ; we find a like school in the Holy 
Supper. In either case it concerns commandments, 
and the lesson for us is a lesson in obedience. The 
sentiment awakened here is of the holiest and richest 
type, but it does not expend itself in vapory "good 
feeling." It throws itself out into one's life to do the 
things which God has commanded, and the things 
which Christ requires. It is spiritual sentiment, inde- 
finable, indeed, though not hazy or misty, losing itself 
in the sentimental. It is not vapory but vigorous. It 
fills the soul with unspeakable joy, and is strong and 
immensely practical. It gives strength, beauty and 
graciousness to God's commandments, and makes obe- 
dience itself a joy and of the richest flavor. 

Mysticism and the mystical not only need not make 
a mystic of the strong mind, but rather are the mind's 
touch with higher things or with ordinary things 
in a higher way. They give new strength and new 
outlook of vision, and deeper sense of obligation than 
is found elsewhere. They give vigor to obedience and 
make a martyr or a life, as occasion calls. Christ 
came out from that first observance of the Supper and 
became "obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross." Whether cross or crown, he had his face and 
heart set for doing his Father's will. 



8o The Memorial Supper. 

THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF SYMBOLS. 

They have no power in themselves, certainly no 
meritorious or efficacious power to save. But as cer- 
tainly they go beyond themselves in their power to 
impress and to teach truth. They appeal to the eye, 
and through the eye they reach the mind, and even 
the heart in its deepest and most subtle feelings. It 
must have been so in that ancient chamber with its 
august Presence, as the High Priest ministered at the 
altar and met God between the cherubim. It certainly 
is so, as the centuries testify, with the Holy of holies 
in the Christian system. The symbols and emblems 
here are more simple and less awe-inspiring in them- 
selves, but they stand for fact and doctrine unsur- 
passed in the realm of truth. 

In the presence of these emblems, and by their em- 
blematic power, we face the cross as the world's great- 
est tragedy, and stand under its appalling shadow. 
They take us beyond themselves, and beyond the cross, 
within the vail, to that profounder something of heav- 
enly enactment, wherein God is just in justifying him 
that believeth in Jesus, and wherein also there is full- 
ness of redemption and remission of sin through the 
shedding of his blood. This is the wisdom of God, 
and that mystery hidden from ages past, but now made 
manifest to the saints in the gospel of his grace. 

This is the Christians' experience in the Christian 
Holy of holies. Here they are shut in with their Lord, 
and the ground whereon they stand is holy ground. 



The Christian Holy of Holies. 8i 

These symbols are our Lord's symbols, and this serv- 
ice is his service ; they were selected by him in an hour 
when his soul was full of sorrow ; they were first used 
by him and given to his disciples with words of re- 
membrance and pathos and love; they were trans- 
mitted by him to succeeding ages as his memorial; 
they are his witness in the church to-day, and testify 
of his love, of his dying for us, of our union with him, 
and that "the life we now live we live by faith in the 
Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us." 

Here we come to a fresh sense of the Savior's love. 
Here, also, we set our face to higher things for his 
honor and larger things for his glory. New experi- 
ences of grace should always mean new achievements 
for the King in his kingdom. These symbols teach 
us, these symbols hold us, these symbols open to us 
the vista of his coronation glory, when we shall be 
glorified together with him. And even now while we 
wait: "Unto him that loved us and washed us from 
our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
and priests unto God; to him be glory and dominion 
forever and ever, Amen." 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE LORD COMMANDS HIS MEMORIAL. 

Matt. 7 : 24, 25 : "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built 
his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods 
came, and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell 
not: for it was founded upon a rock." 

John 14:21, 23: "He that hath my commandments, and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me 
shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will 
manifest myself to him. ... If a man love me, he will keep 
my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him." 

Matt. 12: 48-50: "But he answered and said unto him that 
told him, Who is my mother? And who are my brethren? 
And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and 
said. Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever 
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same 
is my brother, and sister, and mother." 

Romans 8: 14, 16, 17: "For as many as are led by the Spir- 
it of God, they are the sons of God. . . . The Spirit himself 
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of 
God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be 
also glorified together." 

Eph. 2 : 6, 7 : "And hath raised us up together, and made us 
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the 
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, 
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." 

HESE scriptures set out the exalted character 

and rank, and the high Hfe in the family of 

the redeemed. They have the glory of divine 

kinship, the glory of personal character, the 

glory of serving in the kingdom of God, and the glory 





Christ Cu.mmanding His Ordinance. 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 83 

of destiny. But why, in the household of faith, speak of 
commands, and commanding, and commandments? 
And yet even in the kingdom of grace, there is need 
for authority and the recognition of authority. The 
highest obedience, as well as the most compelling and 
joyous, is the obedience of love — as the needle turns 
to the North Star, or the earth moves in her appointed 
orbit under the sun's masterful attractive power. 

The life of Jesus himself was a life of obedience. 
He was obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross. The masterful passion of his heart was this, 
namely, "I come, to do thy will, O God; my meat is 
to do the will of him that sent me." His public min- 
istry opened with his baptism in the Jordan as an ex- 
ample to be followed, and closed practically with the 
appointment and observance of his Memorial Supper, 
with the word: "Do this in remembrance of me." It 
was the farewell service in the chosen chamber. It 
was under the shadow of the cross, and full of tender- 
ness touched with sorrow and sadness. Henceforth, 
there was a new ordinance, a new institution, a new 
commandment among the people of God. 

WHAT IS SAID IN THE SCRIPTURES. 

We do not go to the Old Testament to learn about 
either baptism or the Lord's Supper. They are both 
ordinances of the New Dispensation, and have refer- 
ence to Christ, to his kingdom and to his churches. 

As to how they came, the description of what they 
are, the law by which they are governed, their nature 



84 The Memorial Supper. 

and purpose, their place in church life and in the 
Christian system, their relation to doctrine and human 
salvation— these things and all else concerning the or- 
dinances, can be found only in the New Testament. 
They are New Testament ordinances. 

Not a great deal is said, comparatively, about bap- 
tism or the Supper. And yet in what is said and in 
their relation to other things, they are both given great 
rank ; and their exalted character and real significance 
is everywhere made manifest. 

The Scriptures presented herewith include all the 
passages in the New Testament concerning the Lord's 
Supper. Some few other passages have been, at dif- 
ferent times and by different persons, considered as 
having reference to the ordinance, but the better exer- 
gesis makes such reference at least doubtful, and for 
that reason they are not classed with the Scriptures 
herewith quoted. 

THE PRECEDING PASSOVER MEAL. 
Matt. 26: 20-25. 

19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed 
them ; and they made ready the passover. 

20. Now when the even was come, he sat down 
with the twelve. 

21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto 
you, that one of you shall betray me. 

22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began 
everyone of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? 

23. And he answered and said, He that dippeth his 
hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 

24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him ; 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 85 

but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is bc^ 
trayed ! it had been good for that man if he had not 
been born. 

25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and 
said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast 
said. 

Mabk 14: 17-21. 

17. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 

18. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily 
I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall 
betray me. 

19. And they began to be sorrowful, and to say 
unto him one by one, Is it I ? and another said, Is it I ? 

20. And he answered and said unto them, It is one 
of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 

21. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written 
of him : but woe to that man by whom the Son of man 
is betrayed ! good were it for that man if he had never 
been born. 

John 13: 11, 21-27, 30. 

II. For he knew who should betray him; therefore 
said he, Ye are not all clean. 

21. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in 
spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, that one of you shall betray me. 

22. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubt- 
ing of whom he spake. 

23. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of 
his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 

24. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he 
should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 

25. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him. 
Lord, who is it? 

26. Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give 



86 The Memorial Supper. 

a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped 
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 

27. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then 
said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 

30. He then, having received the sop, went imme- 
diately out ; and it was night. 

31. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said. 
Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified 
in him. 

THE SUPPER IN MATTHEW's GOSPEL. 
(Chapter Twenty»six.) 

26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and 
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, 
and said. Take, eat ; this is my body. 

2y, And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave 
it to them, saying. Drink ye all of it ; 

28. For this is my blood of the new testament, 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth 
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it 
new with you in my Father's kingdom. 

30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went 
out into the mount of Olives. 

THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY MARK. 
(Chapter Fourteen.) 

22. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and 
blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, 
Take, eat : this is my body. 

23. And he took the cup, and when he had given 
thanks, he gave it to them : and they all drank of it. 

24. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the 
new testament, which is shed for many. 

25. Verily I say unto yon, I will drink no more of 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 87 

the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new 
in the kingdom of God. 

26. And when they had sung an hymn, they went 
out into the mount of OUves. 

THE RECORD IN LUKE's GOSPEL. 
(Chapter Twenty-two.) 

14. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and 
the twelve apostles with him. 

15. And he said unto them. With desire I have de- 
sired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 

16. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat 
thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 

17. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 
Take this, and divide it among yourselves : 

18. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit 
of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 

19. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake 
it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which 
is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

20. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This 
cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed 
for you. 

21. But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me 
is with me on the table. 

22. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was de- 
termined: but woe unto that man by whom he is be- 
trayed ! 

23. And they began to inquire among themselves, 
which of them it was that should do this thing. 

A LATER ACCOUNT IN PAULAS EPISTLES. 
(I Corinthians II.) 

23. For I have received of the Lord that whicfi also 
I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same 
night in which he was betrayed took bread : 



88 The Memorial Supper. 

24. And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and 
said, Take, eat ; this is my body, which is broken for 
you: this do in remembrance of me. 

25. After the same manner also he took the cup, 
when he had supped, saying. This cup is the new testa- 
ment in my blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in 
remembrance of me. 

tTHE WORD OF RESURRECTION AUTHORITY, 
(Matthew Twenty-eight.) 

18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. 
All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and 
on earth. 

19. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all na- 
tions, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit : 

20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world. 

IN NEW TESTAMENT CHURCHES. 

Acts 2:41, 42, 46: Then they that gladly received 
his word were baptized: and the same day there were 
added unto them about three thousand souls. And 
they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 
. . . And they, continuing daily with one accord in 
the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, 
did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of 
heart. 

Acts 20 : 7 : And on the first day of the week, when 
the disciples came together to break bread, Paul 
preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; 
and continued his speech until midnight. . . . When 
he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 89 

and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of 
day, so he departed. 

I Cor. 10:16-17: The cup of blessing which we 
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? 
The bread which we break, is it not the communion 
of the body of Christ? . . . For we being many are 
one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of 
that one bread. 

I Cor. II : 17-20: Now in this that I declare unto 
you I praise ye not, that ye come together not for the 
better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you 
come together in the church, I hear that there be 
divisions among you ; and I partly believe it. For there 
must be also heresies among you, that they which are 
approved may be made manifest among you. When ye 
come together therefore into one place, this is not to 
eat the Lord's supper. 

Paul's word for its observance. 

(I COE. 11:26-29, 34.) 

26. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this 
cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 

27. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and 
drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty 
of the body and blood of the Lord. 

28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him 
eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 

29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eat- 
eth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning 
the Lord's body. 

34. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; 
that ye come not together unto condemnation. 

The three accounts from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 
are, of course, three accounts of one event, and give 
the origin of the Lord's Supper. The account from 



90 The Memorial Supper. 

Paul is in accord with the three evangelists, and was 
received by him from the Lord Jesus, by inspiration, 
some years later, and is significant in describing what 
took place in that upper room on the night of the be- 
trayal. They tell their own story in a simple way, and 
are easily understood. 

The other scriptures, in their account of the history 
of the Supper in the New Testament churches, need 
but little in the way of exposition. Some of them will 
have further and fuller discussion in succeeding chap- 
ters. But some things should be set out here, for sake 
of emphasis and enforcement, because of their being 
fundamental in relation to other things. The Supper 
touches the history and many of the great doctrines 
of the Gospel at vital points, and everywhere is under 
the special commandment of the Lord Jesus, 

THE PASSOVER AND THE SUPPER. 

There is need to distinguish in the narrative between 
the Passover meal which Jesus ate with the twelve, 
and the Lord's Supper which immediately followed. 
One was Jewish and observed by Christ as a devout 
Hebrew; the other Christian, instituted by him to be 
observed by his disciples : one was of the Old Dispensa- 
tion, the other of the New Dispensation : one of Juda- 
ism as a religious system, the other of the churches of 
Christ as new organizations — new in their conditions 
of membership, new in their spirit, life and mission, 
new in their ordinances, service and work. 

The Passover was a memorial of Hebrew deliver- 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 91 

ance from Egypt, by blood upon the door of the home. 
As the angel of death went through the land that 
direful night, it came to pass that when he saw the 
blood he passed over, and what was death to the 
Egyptian was deliverance to the Hebrew family, shel- 
tered under the blood of the lamb. Thenceforward, 
the Passover became an institution in Israel to com- 
memorate that event. And the Paschal Lamb became 
a type of Christ, who, as the Lamb of God, should 
bring deliverance, and has brought deliverance through 
the shedding of his blood. 

The Lord's Supper did not take its place in any 
sense. They both pointed to Christ, the one a type 
looking forward to the cross, the other now looking 
back as a symbol of the blood shed for the sinner's 
deliverance. Jesus came into the last Passover with 
earnest desire, and with the twelve, ate the evening 
meal with deep concern and heaviness of heart. When 
finished, it had its fulfillment in him who is forever 
the world's Passover. The ancient rite as a vesture 
was folded up and laid aside, and the new rite came 
in as a new ordinance of the Lord's house, having an 
exalted place and mission in the scheme of grace and 
redemption. 

UNDER THE SHADOW OF JUDAS. 

The presence and conduct of Judas on that dark 
and dreadful night well-nigh broke the Savior's heart. 
Expositors, even those careful and trustworthy, differ 
in judgment as to whether Judas was present at the 
Supper, or whether he retired at the close of the Pass- 



9^ The Memorial Supper. 

over meal and went out just before the Supper, into 
the night, with his dark purpose. As a question of 
exegesis, it makes little difference; whichever be true, 
still his shadow was upon the occasion and upon the 
heart of Jesus. It was inexpressibly painful to our 
Lord. Note his several words, — "one of you shall be- 
tray me" — "dippeth his hand with me in the dish" — "it 
is one of the twelve" — "the hand of him that betrayeth 
me is with me on the table." And then he was "trou- 
bled in spirit" His language was the language of an 
aching heart. 

The simple reading of the narrative brings fullness 
of sorrow even to this day. What a night that was! 
What soul-history was making in that great moment, 
both with Jesus and with Judas ! Heaven and hell 
were face to face. The conflict was terrific and tragic 
-^bordering on tragedy before the hour. 

We speak of Jesus being that night under the 
shadow of the cross; that is true, and the cross was 
now not twenty-four hours removed ; and the interven- 
ing hours were full of awful scenes and terrible ex- 
periences that should quickly succeed each other. But, 
ah, there was another shadow — have we thought of 
that ? Jesus was under the shadow of Judas — even in 
that moment so full of tender and painful emotions— 
a shadow hardly less dark and painful. 

But none of the ransomed ever knew: 
How deep were the waters crossed; 

Nor how dark was the night that the 
Lord passed through, 
Ere he found his sheep that was lost, 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 93 

And yet, in that moment of darkness he was su- 
preme. There was a rift in the cloud. The awful 
shadow lifted. For Judas had scarcely left when our 
Lord, with a sigh of relief, possibly a sense of tri- 
umph, said: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and 
God is glorified in him." Men may prove traitorous 
in the most trying moment, and under the most holy 
influences, but the crowning day comes — and is com- 
ing to the Son of man, and to those who are his. 

INSTITUTION AND COMMANDMENT. 

With Judas out, our Lord completed the Supper: 
First, with the bread, saying, this is my body; then 
with the cup and wine, saying, this is my blood. The 
disciples ate, supped, and the first Supper was ended. 

They sang an hymn and went out into the Mount 
of Olives. This is the origin of the beautiful ordi- 
nance, and also our pattern for its observance. This, 
also, is our authority, our obligation, our privilege, our 
blessing. Here the Lord meets with his disciples, in 
memory of that night, and of his death on the cross 
which came the next day. The charm of that scene has 
been felt through all the succeeding years by those who 
love our Lord and have experienced the cleansing 
power of his blood. 

We come back, therefore, under the very spell of 
that service to this fundamental fact with its wonder- 
ful meaning and binding force. Our Lord set his 
Supper in his churches as an ordinance, and com- 
manded its observance as a Memorial Service. It is, 



94 The Memorial Supper. 

therefore, an institution in his churches, and its re- 
quirement has all the authority which belongs to him- 
self. It comes out of that night, so flavored with rich 
fragrance of the Savior's own heart and so holy in 
his sorrow and love, that there is danger lest we for- 
get that it is a commandment. And a commandment 
in love is still a commandment with authority, and is 
all the more imperial both with the heart and the con- 
science of those who love in return. 

His authority in commanding the Supper for the 
future extends to the element to be used — ^bread and 
wine — :and there can be no change in them; his au- 
thority prescribes the qualifications required and the 
prerequisites to its observance, and these cannot be 
changed ; his authority fixes the Supper in his churches 
as a church ordinance and requires its administration, 
.and no change can be made in that relation and con- 
dition; his authority has established the Supper's re^ 
lation to baptism, has named its purpose and set it as 
a memorial forever, and all this is beyond being 
changed by any human person or power. Indeed, his 
commandment concerning the Lord's Supper as an 
institution in his churches, comprehends its entire ad- 
ministration and is our law unto the end. 

For this reason the Supper as a Memorial in the 
churches, like baptism, is a positive institution and is 
governed by positive law. Therefore, nothing is op- 
tional with us in our faith and practice with the ordi- 
. nances, except to do as our Lord has commanded. It is 
the nature of positive institutions and commandments, 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 95 

that they require exactness in obedience — doing the 
very things commanded, and in the way prescribed, 
and also in the purpose for which they are given so 
far as that purpose is made known by the Lawgiver. 
It was flagrant violation of the law of Christ to 
change positive institutions, as was done — when mak- 
ing changes in the ordinances of baptism and the 
Supper. And those who perpetuate these changes are 
going in the way of Rome and setting at naught_the 
authority of our Lord. Commandments belong to 
Christ, and obedience belongs to us without abridg- 
ment or overreaching. The Law of Love is supreme 
in the Holy Supper, and holds its sway in hearts that 
love. "If a man love me he will keep my words" — 
surely at the Supper and with the Supper if anywhere. 

THE NAME OF THE ORDINANCE. 

This has provoked some discussion, but so far as 
appears from the record, no name was mentioned that 
night. It is called later by inspired writers as it came 
into practice, "the breaking of bread." Only one name 
is given to it in the New Testament, and that one 
name is the Lord's Supper. That is enough and sets 
it out in simplicity, beauty, significance and authority. 
It takes its name from the service of that night, just 
as the other ordinance is called baptism because of its 
form of immersion, as symbol of burial and resurrec- 
tion. 

It is not called a communion or eucharist; it is not 
a communion or eucharist, except perhaps in the sense 



96 The Memorial Supper. 

already explained in the preceding pages. The name is 
important because a false name may lead and has led 
to false views of the ordinance, as false views also 
lead to false names. In its observance there is grate- 
ful feeling, thanksgiving and praise — a kind of eu- 
charist, but that is a subjective condition with us and 
not a name of the ordinance. In its observance we 
commune with our Lord, in association and fellow- 
ship in his churches ; it is a communion with him in 
keeping his commandments; but even that, noble and 
blessed as it is, is an experience of the heart working 
out in the life, and is not a name. 7/^ name is the 
Lord's Supper; nothing less, it can be nothing more ; 
an institution and commandment in the churches, in 
memory of his death as atonement for sin. 

IN FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. 

In ordaining his Supper our Lord used language 
very simple, but figurative. Bread and wine were 
figures of speech for body and blood. They repre- 
sented and represent now, his body, which was broken, 
and his blood, which was shed, for a ransom. Eating 
and drinking are symbols of higher and spiritual 
things, and represent our participation in his atone- 
ment for sin and the spiritual feeding of our souls. 

In his teaching our Lord abounded in the use of 
figurative language. And it is strange that any one 
should have mistaken here the figurative for the lit- 
eral. The bread and wine are not flesh and blood, 
are not made flesh and blood, do not undergo any 



The Lord Commands His ^Memorial. 97 

change whatever. But simply as elements in the 
Lord's Supper they tell in figure their wonderful story 
of his death for sin and our life through him. Failure 
to recognize this has done much to mar the beauty of 
the ordinance, and even to cause fearful perversions 
of its nature and meaning. 

The great truth which is taught here, and the com- 
manding authority concerning the ordinance, are none 
the less real because our Lord spoke in figure of speech. 
You look on the picture of your mother and are moved 
to tears, and the deepest affections of your heart are 
all stirred within as you look into her loving eyes and 
trace lineaments of beauty in her face growing more 
beautiful in your eyes as the years go by. And none 
the less because you know it is a picture and not the 
real — perhaps even more because the real is not there 
and you look through flie picture with eyes of love, 
and memory does its perfect work. A figure must 
have its reality ; every shadow must have its substance ; 
and behind these elements and simple words in the 
Lord's Supper, stand as substance to shadow realities 
of sin and of its remission through the blood of the 
cross. 

PERMANENT AND FREQUENT. 

Like baptism, its companion ordinance, the Lord's 
Supper is to abide in the churches. "Till he come," 
and "alway, even unto the end of the world" — these 
are the words which make permanent this new insti- 
tution. Through all the centuries until now it has re- 
7 



98 The Memorial Supper. 

mained among the people of God as a constant and 
vital memento expressive of his marvelous love and 
scheme of redemption. But it is also unlike baptism; 
for baptism is administered only aiice to each disciple 
upon a profession of his faith in Christ, and marks his 
entrance upon the new life. He is buried with Christ 
in baptism and is raised up again by the glory of the 
Father to walk in newness of life. It is symbol of life 
begun, and life begins only once. 

The Lord's Supper, on the other hand, is frequently 
repeated in the life of the believer, and always in the 
same glorious significance. It serves as memorial of 
the Savior's death, but also as symbol of our life in its 
continuance in him. There seems to be no law as to 
how frequent. But simply and beautifully as "often 
as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
the Lord's death till he come." So it will be until the 
stars go out, and the Sun of righteousness shall shine 
in meridian glory, and all shadows be done away in 
the noonday splendor. 

ENTRUSTED TO HIS CHURCHES. 

The service in the upper room came to an end, but 
the Lord's Supper remained as a souvenir. It was 
simple in form, single in purpose, and fragrant with 
the breath of heaven. His one single word, "Remem- 
ber me," "Do this in remembrance of me," was his 
word of design and entrustment. Henceforth, in his 
church, and in his churches severally, as they should 
be multiplied, his Supper should be observed as a 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 99 

Memorial. Christ had before pronounced that mighty 
word which stands forever as a challenge to the king- 
dom of darkness, "I will build my church and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And that 
night it was in process of building, with the powers 
of hell in hearing distance. 

The little band separated after the hymn, and Jesus 
next met them on the morning of his resurrection, 
and again eight days later when Thomas was present. 
And then he was with them, coming in and going 
out "for forty days, showing himself alive after his 
passion, by many infallible proofs, and teaching the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God." He finally 
met them by appointment in a farewell meeting, with 
five hundred others who loved and honored him ; gave 
them their world-commission for making and bap- 
tizing disciples and for teaching them to observe his 
commandments ; and then he was taken up into heaven 
out of their sight, and sat on the right hand of God. 
"They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with 
great joy," — ready to undertake the appointed task of 
world conquest for their ascended Lord — ready, and 
yet waiting for the enduement from on high. 

Things had grown immensely in those intervening 
days. The little company — the same and yet so 
changed since that night of forty days ago, assembled 
again with others to the number of one hundred and 
tAventy, including "the women, and Mary the mother 
of Jesus, with his brethren." These all continued, pos- 
sibly in the same upper room of the first Supper, witli 

Lorc 



100 The Memorial Supper. 

one accord in prayer and supplication, until on Pente- 
cost the fullness of the promise came and they, in- 
dividually and as a body, were baptized in the Holy 
Spirit. They were endued with power from on high, 
and then the wonders began. Three thousand were 
added to them in one day, and were baptized, and 
"continued steadfastly in the apostles* doctrine and 
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers," 
as they had learned on that memorable night — and 
learned since, no doubt, even more profoundly. 

So the church of Christ, with its marvelous endow- 
ments and enduement, was out on its mission of evan- 
gelizing the world, of making and baptizing disciples, 
and multiplying itself in many places, and carried the 
Lord's Supper into every church that was founded, 
as the Hebrews had carried the Ark of the Covenant 
— the token of many memories. And within thirty 
years from Pentecost we find the disciples at Troas in 
a service "for the breaking of bread," having as their 
preacher the great apostle to the Gentiles, — himself 
a marvel in history as a trophy of the cross. We find 
the Lord's Supper also in "the church of God which 
was at Corinth," and no doubt also in the churches of 
Judea, in the churches of Asia, and in the churches 
of Galatia. Everywhere there was triumph in spite 
of persecution, and onward movement notwithstand- 
ing difficulties and bitter opposition. The preaching, 
and the organizing of churches with their ordinances, 
and the changed life were always present as their 
mark and power. 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. ioi 

THE ORDINANCE IN EVERY CHURCH. 

The growth of the church of Jesus Christ, first to 
its own organic completeness, and then in repro- 
ducing and multiplying itself in communities of all 
conditions and races and classes, is one of the most 
phenomenal developments in human history. The New 
Testament church is best expressed in the plural form 
— churches rather than church, New Testament 
churches rather than New Testament church, unless 
the one be taken generically and as representing the 
others. The churches of Christ were first one, then 
more than one, then many, then a great multitude. 
They all had, severally, the one blessed heritage, the 
one glorious mission, and the one mighty function in 
the world. And each one for itself singly was en- 
trusted with the Lord's Supper as privilege and re- 
sponsibility. Churches everywhere, as the movement 
went on, and in every church the Lord's Supper w^as 
a souvenir of the memorable night and more memora- 
ble day that followed. It was the symbol of the cross 
and of redemption by the blood of Calvary — the sign 
of conquest wrought and of further conquest yet to 
come. 

The risen Christ, anticipating for his disciples this 
large and triumphant success, had already given the 
injunction for enforcement wherever new disciples 
were made and baptized, "Teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you." This 
imperial word, spoken on the mountain before ascend- 



102 The Memorial Supper. 

ing on high, and still fresh in its original authority, 
put the Lord's Supper in his churches as (i) a com- 
mandment for obedience, (2) an ordinance entrusted 
to them as a sacred charge, and (3) for their ob- 
servance as a memorial service. In his churches, each 
church severally having its own ordinance, and every 
church for itself having its own memorial observance. 
This view, held for the most part by Christians of 
every name, restricts the service necessarily to church 
administration. 

It is remarkable how Christ individualizes his 
churches, in organic life and locality, in doctrine and 
responsibility, in work and rewards. He will have all 
his churches know that he searches the heart, that he 
knows their several conditions, both when they are 
faithful and even where Satan's seat is, and that he 
rewards every church and every man severally ac- 
cording to his work. He sees his churches as golden 
candlesticks, and seven candlesticks for seven churches, 
and their pastors as stars. He walks among the candle- 
sticks and holds the stars in his hands — the Alpha and 
the Omega of the churches. That is a beautiful pic- 
ture of individual church life, full of glory for the 
churches, and of honor and protection for their pas- 
tors. Christ's churches are held in the palm of his 
hand and are as dear to him as the apple of his eye. 

1 Tim. 3:15: "That thou may est know how thou oughtest to 
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the 
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 

Rev. 1: 11: "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: 
and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 103 

churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, 
and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, 
and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." 

Kev. 2: 23: "And all the churches shall know that I am he 
which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto 
every one of you according to your works." 

Acts 20:28: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves (Ephe- 
sian Elders), and to all the flock, over the which the Holy 
Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, 
which he hath purchased with his own blood." 

Eph. 5:27: "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself 
for it; that he might present it to himself; a glorious church, 
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 
should be holy and without blemish." 

Rev. 2:7: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will 
I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
paradise of God." 

We see, therefore, the honorable and exalted place 
which the churches, and the Lord's Supper as a high 
and holy trust in the churches, have in the mind of 
Christ. To think of them as he thinks of them is the 
only standard worth our while. He has set them here 
in great character, and given them a mission and a 
commission that might well enlist the sympathy and 
delight of angels. We should avoid becoming too 
churchly, or churchly at all; but there is need to cul- 
tivate in our hearts a profound and earnest devotion 
to the churches as the churches of Christ, and to the 
ordinances as the ordinances of the Lord's house. 

ITS OBSERVANCE IN THE CHURCH. 

The church of God at Corinth made a sad spectacle 
with the Lord's Supper. But why wonder at that ? Its 



104 The Memorial Supper. 

members had been gathered from the heathenism of 
that cultured but corrupt city of Greece. The wonder 
rather is that the holy ordinance was there at all — 
like a beautiful lily, snow-white but growing in a pool 
where all is mire and mirk. But there it was ; and the 
great apostle, with patience and tenderness, was tell- 
ing the people, in spite of their gross misconception, 
what our Lord did on that night in which he was be- 
trayed and how he himself had received the Memorial 
Supper from the Lord Jesus. 

He was holding up the noble example and plead- 
ing for the purity of the ordinance. They were a saved 
people, rescued and called out by grace from awful 
conditions; and notwithstanding their former habits 
and their corrupt surroundings, they were struggling 
for a better life, and striving to do as their Lord had 
done, and received from the apostle some of the no- 
blest utterances that ever fell from the pen of inspira- 
tion. Their observance, it must be confessed, was 
indeed and almost in every sense, far removed from 
that first observance, and yet there was the ordinance 
as a memorial service — the Lord's Supper in "the 
church of God which was at Corinth," a veritable 
miracle wrought and being wrought in that heathen 
city. 

This instance, so prominent in New Testament his- 
tory, gives great emphasis to the individuality of the 
churches in their separate and individual observance 
of the ordinance. It shows, too, the importance of 
holding the service to the simplicity of the original 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 105 

form, and to the single purpose of a memorial in dis- 
cernment of the Lord's death, and in memory of the 
great love wherein he loved the church and gave him- 
self for it. 

This cannot be stated too strongly or be given too 
honored a place in our faith and practice. The 
churches of Christ have the ordinances of Christ, and 
in serving their high trust they bring honor and glory 
to their common Lord. This gives an exalted view of 
the ordinance as entrusted to the churches, but at the 
same time puts upon what we call the local church 
significant emphasis, responsibility and distinguished 
honor as the church of Christ. In the matter of grace, 
Christ deals with men individually, and saves them as 
individuals ; in his method of dealing with his churches 
he honors and blesses them severally as individual 
churches. 

This gives enlarged and greatly enriched meaning 
to church-membership; shows church membership to 
be worth while, to have value and honor and distinc- 
tive character. It indicates the relation of a disciple 
to Christ, and to Christ's church and its ordinances, 
to his kingdom and service. It crowns Christ as King 
in his churches, and recognizes him as sole Sovereign 
and Lawgiver in Zion. The basal question, indeed, 
with members, individually and as a church, is not 
how much they can get from the Lord's Supper, but 
how much they can honor him who has entrusted their 
church with the observance of this sacred memorial — 
as with a casket scarred with the marks of the cross 



lo6 The Memorial Supper. 

and yet carrying within itself the priceless jewel of his 
kingdom. He has put honor and glory upon his 
churches and the ordinances, and we honor him in 
honoring the things that are his, and share his love 
in loving him and the things that are his. 

THE FORM WITHOUT FORMALISM. 

In the church in which we are members, we come to 
the Lord's Supper; we come in compliance with his 
command with an obedient heart; but also because we 
love him and desire to meet him in that Memorial 
Service. It is a great coming together. A heart moved 
with devout love is of more importance, more high, 
noble and strong, than a heart moved simply from a 
sense of duty. It is of the utmost concern that in this 
solemn, beautiful service we have the very mind and 
spirit of the Master. It is this spirit that finds com- 
munion with him and joy in keeping his command- 
ments. 

Such observance of the ordinance, with this spirit 
of life and love and devotion, saves us from formalism, 
though we insist on the very form which our Lord 
gave. The form does not make formalism if preserved 
in its simplicity and pathetic beauty and singleness of 
purpose. The man with a ring his mother left him 
in her dying hour, may make much of it in tender and 
loving way, but he can never become a formalist with 
that ring. Here in the Lord's Supper as with baptism, 
we may have, indeed, if true to our Lord must have, 
the very form and pattern which were given us. But 



The Lord Commands His Memorial. 107 

we must also have that spirit of love and worship 
which will preserve us "the form of godliness," with 
its power and joy. 

Here we bring the heart ; here we bring our life of 
turmoil and battle ; here we bring our joys and sor- 
rows; here we celebrate the dying love of our Lord 
and his death on the cross; here we commune with 
him in all the things which he has comrnanded us. 
Then sing our hymn, and go out for a better life, to 
suffer or to serve as he may call, but always to his 
honor and glory. 

Jesus, thou friend divine, 

Our Savior and our King, 
Thy hand from every snare and foe 

Shall great deliverance bring. 

Sure as thy truth shall last. 

To Zion shall be given 
The brightest glories earth can yield, 

And brighter bliss of heaven. 

"But thou, O man of God, follow after righteous- 
ness. . . . Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on 
eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and hath 
professed a good profession before many witnesses. 
I give thee charge in the sight of God . . . that thou 
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, 
until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ"; when 
he shall "present his church unto himself a glorious 
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; 
but that it should be holy and without blemish." 




CHAPTER V. 

A COMPANION MEMORIAL TO BAPTISM. 

APTISM and the Lord's Supper are compan- 
ion ordinances, and of monumental character 
and purpose in the churches of Christ. As 
souvenirs of mighty and tragic occasions, 
and as memorials of events which wrought the world's 
redemption, they are significant, and beautiful, and 
very dear to the heart of those who love and honor 
the Lord Jesus. They are, however, much more than 
memorials. They are institutions in the kingdom of 
Christ; they are ceremonials, statutory and positive, 
and are essential to the integrity and organic life of a 
church. 

We estimate God's commandments and set a value 
on his ordinances ; but God, who knows the heart and 
life, considers our obedience, marking our conduct and 
service in dealing with the things that are his. It is 
of infinite importance that we please God — that we 
fear God and walk in his ways, that we love Christ 
and keep his commandments. Every commandment he 
has given and every ordinance and every ceremonial, 
is each full of blessing in the keeping of it, a blessing 
to the individual and to the world, while also it does 
honor to God. The following Scriptures, though first 
spoken for other times and concerning other things, 




•»::a;'«^=S i* 



■>'-^~'^i^^^^^ 



Hisiory of Baptists, by Armitage. 

Christ Bapttzed in the Jordan. 



I 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 109 

are equally significant in showing how God views our 
conduct in relation to the two great ordinances which 
his Son committed to the church. 

Deut. 6 : 29-33 : "Oh, that there were such an heart in them, 
that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments al- 
ways, that it might be well with them, and with their chil- 
dren forever ! , . . But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and 
I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the stat- 
utes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that 
they may do them. ... Ye shall observe to do therefore as the 
Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside 
to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways 
which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may 
live." 

Num. 9 : 2, 3 : "Let the children of Israel also keep the pass- 
over at his appointed season. ... Ye shall keep it in its sea- 
son; according to all the rites of it, and according to all the 
ceremonies thereof; shall ye keep it." 

Deut. 8:6; 4:2. "Therefore thou shalt keep the command- 
ments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to fear 
him. ... Ye shall not add unto the word which I com- 
mand you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye 
may keep the commandments of the Lord your God." 

Rev. 22: 18, 19: "If any man shall add unto these things, 
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this 
book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the 
book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of 
the book of life, and out of the holy city." 

These words indicate plainly what God would have 
men do with his commandments. They were words 
of tremendous import when spoken to Moses for the 
children of Israel ; but they come with equal power to 
the twentieth century, and concerning the ordinances 
of the New Testament. We can draw no distinction 
between the Old and the New, in the matter of author- 
ity on God's part or of obedience on our part. There 



110 The Memorial Supper. 

can be no abridgment here with impunity, nor over- 
reaching in the way of adding to his word. We are 
warned not to turn aside to the right hand or the left, 
but to walk in all the ways which he has commanded. 
Deuteronomy and Revelation, Moses and John, Sinai 
and Patmos, are one in their emphasis for the integ- 
rity of the Word of God, and for its completeness, 
and for its sacredness, and for its authority in the heart 
and life. 

CLASSED WITH THE THINGS COMMANDED. 

I. Baptism and the Lord's Supper hold high and 
equal rank in the Word of God as companion memo- 
rials. They may be classed as commandments, or stat- 
utes, or ordinances, or institutions, or ceremonies, or 
memorials fragrant with the most blessed memories. 
However classed, they are of divine origin, have divine 
authority, and are stamped with the imprimatur of 
heaven. They take rank with the commandments, 
statutes and judgments of the Old Testament. Bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper carry in themselves, by 
their very nature, everything suggested by these sev- 
eral mighty words of old which have come down to 
us, and which have such frequent repetition and vital 
emphasis in the Old Testament — commandments, stat- 
utes, judgments. These words themselves are set 
down as synonymous, and yet are synonymous only 
in part, varying only in shade of meaning. They al- 
ways indicate, however, and have as their basal idea, 
something which God has decreed and wishes done. 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. iii 

And this is true of baptism and the Lord's Supper in 
every sense. 

There is nowhere in all the Scriptures any distinc- 
tion made between essential and non-essential when 
dealing with things which God has commanded. That 
distinction is of man and full of danger, in his effort 
to get away from the statutes or the ordinances or the 
ceremonies of the Lord. Whatever God commands 
forthwith becomes essential in the line and purpose of 
his requirement, and in the course of our conduct in 
dealing with him and with the things he has command- 
ed. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are essential to our 
obedience; essential as commandments to be kept, as 
ordinances to be observed, as ceremonials requiring 
loyal concern, as memorials for celebrating the mighty 
acts of God's scheme for human redemption. While 
not themselves essential to salvation they hold high 
rank and close relation with things without which 
there can be no hope of being saved. 

OBEDIENCE IN HEART AND LIFE. 

Go3's law is God's law, whether in moral precept 
or in ceremonial enactment. What we call external, if 
God commands it, at once takes on new meaning and 
assumes momentous proportions in the line of serving 
God and keeping his commandments. And after all, 
the outward is but the expression of the inward. In 
the heart we love God, but in the life we walk in 
God's commandments. The principle of authority and 
the principle of obedience are the same everywhere. 



112 The Memorial Supper. 

The Old Testament and the New are one in magnify- 
ing the Word of the Lord and insisting on obedience 
to his commandments. 

"To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not 
according to this word, it is because there is no light 
in them." And again, "Search the Scriptures; for in 
them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are they 
which testify of me'*— said our Lord. "If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded, though one should rise from the dead." 
Throughout the book everywhere there shines as a 
steady, unbroken blaze the absolute supremacy and 
authority of God's Word, as the man of our counsel, 
as a lamp to our feet, and as our all-sufficient rule of 
faith and practice. And in the whole round of human 
conduct there is no question of greater moment than 
the simple question, ever present and urgent, of keep- 
ing God's commandments in recognition of God's au- 
thority. 

MEMORIALS OF DIVINE REQUIREMENT. 

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are God's law, even 
in "the rites" of them and in "the ceremonies" of 
them. These are statutory and positive, and must ever 
appeal to devout hearts. The great principle of au- 
thority and the principle of obedience come into the 
New Dispensation, and if possible become even more 
effective: "If ye love me, keep my commandments"; 
"If a man love me he will keep my words." The fear 
of the Lord and the love of the Lord meet in this 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 113 

solemn issue of doing what God requires. And this 
great principle certainly holds for baptism and the 
Lord's Supper, which were appointed as his memorials 
and committed to our care and keeping. 

It becomes the Christian world to take a fresh look 
from this high standpoint, at these two ordinances in 
their joint memorial character, and to face them as 
moral obligations. Their divine origin not only puts 
upon them divine sanction and permission, but also 
gives them divine requirement. They are imperative 
in what God would have us do with them, and should 
be considered in their relation to ourselves, in their 
relation to each other, and in their relation to higher 
things. This is made all the more important and 
urgent because of the condition in our modern church 
life. 

The two ordinances have always stood together as 
companion ordinances, and ahvays in the well-estab- 
lished and well-recognized order, — baptism first and 
the Lord's Supper following. This order is based upon 
their place in the Word of God, and also upon their 
own inner meaning, and is so plain and even neces- 
sary that it has not only been conceded, but maintained, 
by all Christians everywhere, with here and there a 
contrary voice. 

The ordinances are to-day the same as they were 
at the first. They have the same meaning as they had 
then, and the same form, and require the same spirit. 
They have the same purpose as they had then, and the 
same obligation and the same blessing. They carry 

8 



114 The Memorial Supper. 

just as much before the world as they carried then; 
they mean as much for us as they meant for the first 
disciples ; mean just as much for God and Christ now 
as then, and just as much for the great facts and doc- 
trines of the gospel. Their wondrous mission has not 
ended. Every reason for their appointment still holds, 
so far as we know, and makes our obligation inevita- 
ble and our obedience imperative and insistent. Their 
great lessons remain the same to-day as when Jesus 
first committed them to his followers, and bade them 
"go and make disciples, baptizing them into the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ; 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever" he 
had commanded. 

CEREMONIALS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

2. Baptism and the Lord's Supper as companion or- 
dinances are Gospel ceremonies. They hold their place 
in the New Testament as ceremonials of the Christian 
system. So we have a new dispensation with new 
ceremonies — ceremonies of the New Testament, The 
old dispensation of law, with its legalistic service, had 
passed away, and the new dispensation of grace came 
in, and with it these new ceremonials of the Gospel. 
Fewer in number and far less elaborate in service, they 
are even more wonderful in beauty and charm and 
power. They take rank at once with the command- 
ments and statutes and judgment, and the highest cere- 
monials of the Old Testament. There is every reason 
why they should take a stronger hold on the heart and 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 115 

conscience of men — of men saved through the grace 
of God and by the blood of his Son. It is folly — oh, it 
must be sin, in the sight of God, to discredit these 
great ordinances on the score that they are ceremonies 
— "mere ceremonies." This is done more frequently 
concerning baptism, as though it were not coordinate 
with the Supper, and as though the Supper itself were 
not also a ceremony, and both of them ceremonials of 
divine appointment and divine requirement. 

They differ, of course, in the form of their ad- 
ministration and in the elements which are used. One 
is the immersion in water of a believer in the Lord 
Jesus, as symbol of his death and resurrection; the 
other is in the use of bread broken and eaten, and of 
wine poured out and drank, in solemn celebration of 
our Lord's death for sin, and of his being alive again, 
and of our having life in him. In either case it is 
doing what God commanded, ''according to the rites 
of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof." 

On the other hand, the two ordinances are coordi- 
nate, equal in rank, in importance, in authority, in 
marvelous beauty of meaning, and in richness of sen- 
timent which comes in their observance. They are 
simplicity itself, and yet commanding in their teaching 
power, when rightly understood and administered in 
the fullness of their meaning. God removed the long 
list of Jewish ceremonies which were full of impress- 
ive power, and then not as their substitutes, but sim- 
ply their successors in point of time, he appointed bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper as two nezv ceremonies, 



ii6 The Memorial Supper. 

and set them in the Gospel dispensation with a new 
message. He gave them the exceptional distinction of 
symbolizing, before the world, the death and resurrec- 
tion and new life of his Son — dying for sinners and 
living again for their redemption. They are cere- 
monies indeed, and never were ceremonies of simpler 
form, or higher rank, or charged with more wondrous 
meaning and message for a lost and ruined world. 
And God has set them in the very heart of the Gos- 
pel; so that wherever the good news is preached, 
these two symbols shall be present to show in figure 
and spectacular power what the preacher tells in 
words. 

EVANGELISM WITHOUT THE ORDINANCES. 

The evangelism of the New Testament gave promi- 
nent place to these great ordinances of our Lord. In- 
deed, they were elements of power in the early preach- 
ing. A similar evangelism is needed to-day in the 
world and for the churches of Christ. For the sake of 
courteous fellowship and Christian cooperation in 
evangelistic movements, we have consented, at least, to 
a partial and temporary retirement of the ordinances 
which Christ committed to his churches for their care 
and keeping. But can we justify ourselves in that? 
Such a course does not seem wise even when consid- 
ered simply as a method and policy for organizing and 
marshaling the forces of the kingdom of God. But 
much more, it departs radically from the New Testa- 
ment policy and method, and does not meet the require- 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 117 

ment which is laid upon us for preaching the gospel of 
the grace of God. 

This is not written in the spirit or interest of polem- 
ics, but with conviction that the Christian world at 
large has been playing too loose with the ceremonies 
of the kingdom. And we consequently have to-day 
an evangelism in a large degree minus baptism, and 
minus the Lord's Supper. But in this we are wholly 
unlike the men who followed next after Christ and 
took their pattern from him. This is written by a 
Baptist from a Baptist standpoint, but with a convic- 
tion that Christians of every name are profoundly con- 
cerned in the question here raised. The appeal is broad 
and generous, though pronounced and earnest for loy- 
alty to Jesus Christ concerning his ordinances — a plea 
to place them where he placed them, and to maintain 
them as he has commanded. 

As repeated over and over again, these ordinances 
are not essential to salvation. Men may be won and 
brought to Christ without them. It is Christ first, and 
the ordinances afterward. We come to the ordinances 
through him, and not to him through the ordinances. 
Salvation first; and then the ordinances are for us 
because we have already been saved through him. But 
there are other things, than things essential to salva- 
tion, ''things that accompany salvation." And among 
these is loyalty to Christ. And loyalty to him requires 
that these ordinances shall not be set aside even to gain 
some temporary good. 

On the supposition, at least for argument's sake, 



ii8 The Memorial Supper. 

that you can preach the gospel without the ordinances, 
can preach the gospel without baptism and without the 
Lord's Supper, even then this is not the evangelism 
of the New Testament. It is not the gospel John 
preached, for he made and baptized disciples ; it is not 
the gospel Jesus himself preached, for he made and 
baptized more disciples than John, (though he himself 
baptized not, but his disciples) ; it is not the gospel 
which the disciples preached, for they made and bap- 
tized more disciples than both John and our Lord. If, 
therefore, there be a gospel without the ordinances, 
there is also a gospel with the ordinances. And this 
last is more in accordance with the pattern of the New 
Testament. 

new testament evangelism. 

The evangelistic campaigns recorded in the New 
Testament are very significant as relates to these or- 
dinances — especially baptism, as it has the more fre- 
quent mention. First, John came preaching and bap- 
tizing in so marked a way that the inspired historian 
calls him the Baptizer. Then Christ began his evan- 
gelistic work and through his disciples did more bap- 
tizing than had been done by his great forerunner. 
Then came what may be called the third evangelistic 
campaign by the disciples, after our Lord had returned 
to glory — the third in point of time, but the first under 
the great commission, and with the guidance and in the 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

This record speaks for itself and puts tremendous 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 119 

emphasis upon the ordinances, as setting a pattern for 
us in evangelistic services. Read the great commis- 
sion; "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, 
. . . teaching them to observe all things." Now, note 
the first great evangelistic campaign under this com- 
mission, and you find an evangelism with marked 
distinction for the ordinances of Christ. Under 
the orders of their ascended Lord the disciples went 
everywhere telling the story of his death and resur- 
rection. 

It was a time of wonderful power. Great revivals 
followed, at Jerusalem, in the city of Samaria, on the 
road that led to Gaza, on the road that led to Damas- 
cus, in the home of Cornelius, and in many other 
places where many turned to the Lord and found sal- 
vation in him. In all these revivals the ordinance of 
baptism had its place in the evangelistic preaching, and 
played a great part in bearing testimony for Christ. 
This is significant and should have attention if our 
evangelism is to follow the pattern set in the New 
Testament. We hear many prayers for the duplicat- 
ing of Pentecost; do these prayers mean that we de- 
sire not only the coming of the Spirit in power, but 
also a repetition in the baptism of thousands who have 
gladly received the Word of life? 

Moreover, the evangelistic service which makes full 
recognition of baptism and the Lord's Supper, gains 
immensely in the way of illustrative power. These 
ordinances make exhibition of the truth, and are pow- 
erful preachers of the great doctrines. They appeal 



120 The Memorial Supper. 

to the eye, and through the eye they appeal to the mind 
and heart in wonderful fashion. They often carry 
conviction where even the earnest words of the 
preacher have failed. A burial and resurrection in a 
living picture, such as we have in the ordinance of 
baptism, stirs the soul deeply. Many of the mightiest 
doctrines of grace almost find demonstration in the 
ordinance of baptism. And surely there can be no 
justifiable reason why we should leave out of our 
evangelism these great pictorial exhibitions of truth 
and doctrine. 

Furthermore, the Gospel is something more than 
preaching. It is a wonderful system, with preaching 
as only a part of it. The ordinances are essential in 
the Gospel system. They have their place and power 
in quickening and fostering a sense of duty. They in- 
volve the very heart idea of the Gospel, viz., that of 
surrendering to Jesus Christ and counting him as our 
Lord, and giving him the obedience of our heart and 
life. There is great obligation on us in this matter. 
Surely we would not do away altogether with these 
beautiful ordinances of the Lord's house. Then why 
leave them out, or do other things to weaken them? 
It is far better to walk in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord blameless. We commit our 
soul to him, he commits his ordinances to us, and also 
his truth and the preaching of his gospel. He looks 
to us for faithfulness in the entrustment which he has 
made to us. He has left us a great example and looks 
to our love and fidelity to meet our obligations to him. 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 121 



ESSENTIAL TO ORGANIC CHURCH LIFE. 

3. The Lord's Supper, like baptism, its companion 
ordinance, is essential in the church and kingdom of 
Christ. This must be so, else the Lord had not placed 
it there. His kingdom is not of this world, as to origin, 
or spirit, or purpose, or method. It is in the world 
but not of it nor confined by its limitations. It is for 
the world's conquest, and for making this world like 
unto the kingdom of heaven. And these ordinances 
are set for its progress, as the signal of its triumph, 
while the church, purchased by his blood, and intended 
to mark his kingship and kingdom among men, is the 
agent and medium of its operation. 

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are essential to the 
very being and organic life of the church, and have, 
therefore, an important place in the progress of our 
Lord's kingdom. It is noteworthy, as seen above, that 
in his commission, as reported by both Matthew and 
Mark, while commanding missions and world-wide 
evangelization, our Lord gave baptism a most important 
place. And moreover, he began his own public life by 
being himself baptized by John in the Jordan. And then 
"Christ and baptism/' like the sword of the Lord and 
of Gideon, became almost the word of conquest with 
the preachers who came after. It was Christ and bap- 
tism ; repent and be baptized ; believe and be baptized ; 
make disciples baptizing them. And those days were 
days of power for the forward movement of the king- 
dom. The heralds of the cross were not afraid to say 



122 The Memorial Supper. 

great things for a great ordinance, for as many as had 
been baptized into Christ had put on Christ. They 
were buried with him in baptism, and raised up again 
to walk in newness of life. And under their preaching, 
churches were organized everywhere, multiplying as 
campfires on the plain and on the mountain in token 
of an advancing army in the march of triumph. 

A statement made in the preceding chapter may be 
repeated here with an additional remark. The state- 
ment was, the New Testament church is better ex- 
pressed in the plural form — churches rather than 
church; New Testament churches, rather than New 
Testament church, — unless the one be taken as repre- 
senting the many. Christ's church was first one, then 
more than one, then many, then a great multitude — 
churches, churches everywhere. Now the additional 
remark as indicating a fact of history and needing to 
be said here with emphasis, is this: The many were 
never again reduced to the one. The churches never 
again became the church. The most gigantic effort 
ever made in that direction was made by the Roman 
Empire, with the Roman Catholic Hierarchy as the 
result. But that was not, and is not, the churches of 
Christ. And "The Church" is not to be found in Rome, 
nor in any line or lineage of thought or name or doc- 
trine that follows in her wake or is any wise in his- 
toric connection with her. 



Indeed, and let the statement be given out with all 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 123 

frankness and earnestness, there is no such thing as 
"The Church," as that phrase goes and is appHed. 
The churches, was the New Testament designation — 
''The churches of God," when speaking of many; and 
the "church of God at Corinth," when localizing and 
speaking of one. Christ's churches are churches, and 
the many are still the many and are multiplying more 
and more. We may not be able to change the nomen- 
clature of this modern condition of church life. It 
has come down to us through centuries of error, and 
sometimes through the grossest misconception of the 
simple truth as it is in Jesus. But it should be marked 
as a departure from the simplicity of New Testament 
language and thought, and as being far removed from 
the simple idea of church which our Lord gave to the 
world. 

And this departure, with the modern conditions in 
church life, has had much to do with the displacement 
of the great ordinances, or at least in their disparage- 
ment and depreciation. In this way we have lost much 
and gained nothing; for "the churches," as a designa- 
tion, is more definite and more pronounced in meaning 
than "The Church." Presbyterian churches or Method- 
ist churches, as a designation for these great peoples, 
are far more definite, more potent, more full of mean- 
ing, than The Presbyterian Church or The Methodist 
Church. 

And even for the Roman Catholics, with whom the 
false notion had its start and its greatest emphasis, 
it is better to say Catholic churches than to say "The 



124 The Memorial Supper. 

Church." It is in this idea of 'The Church/' that 
Rome has had its iron hand on so many throats, indi- 
viduals and even nations, and its iron heel on so many 
hearts; and always to their hurt, sometimes to their 
misery and undoing, beyond what can be told. There 
are no figures to express how far removed all this is 
from the simple original church of Jesus Christ in 
every sense of the word. 

And the ''Baptist Church," as a designation for 
Baptist churches in the aggregate, is an incongruity, 
and contrary to all the teaching of our people— con- 
trary to their doctrine and polity and practice and 
spirit; contrary to their whole conception of the New 
Testament idea of the churches of Christ. Baptist 
people are "baptized people," congregated in "bap- 
tized churches," located as may need be for the fur- 
therance of the gospel of Christ. There is no room in 
New Testament language or thought for the hierarchi- 
cal, either in form or spirit or doctrine. The churches 
of Christ are now many throughout the world. They 
will never again be reduced to the one until Christ 
shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, and 
the churches of all ages shall be congregated into one 
as the redeemed of the Lord, the general assembly and 
church of the firstborn, a mighty throng which no 
man can number, washed in the blood of the Lamb. 
First one church, then many multiplied through the 
ages, and then one again assembled, without spot or 
blemish or any such thing, for the great coronation 
day. 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 125 

THE CHURCHES AND THE KINGDOM. 

The kingdom of Christ is larger than the church, 
larger than the churches. The very word kingdom is a 
larger word, more lofty, more kingly and in keeping 
with the vast scope of that kingdom^ which is not of 
this world, which cometh not with observation, but is 
in the hearts of men, which is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; 
which is spiritual and invisible, and which finds its 
expression in the churches, whether many or one, in 
fulfilling their mission, each one in its own sphere for 
the glory of God by Jesus Christ. 

It is not easy to define kingdom — either the word 
or the thing itself, or to define the relation which the 
kingdom and the churches have to each other. Indeed, 
the New Testament not only gives us no definition, 
but really seems unconcerned as to definition or dis- 
tinction. It simply records in historic narrative the 
mighty things which are done as the kingdom has its 
great spiritual forces embodied in the churches, ex- 
pressing itself in the churches, and through the 
churches projecting itself unto the uttermost parts of 
the earth. 

The great terms, ^'kingdom of God," "kingdom of 
heaven," ''kingdom of Christ," seem to be synonymous, 
with possibly a slight difference of meaning ; and in a 
general way they may be taken to indicate Christ's 
cause on the earth. "The kingdom of God is not meat 
and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in 



126 The Memorial Supper. 

the Holy Spirit"; "The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand" ; "The gospel of this kingdom" ; "The kingdom 
of heaven cometh not with observation, but is within 
you" ; "My kingdom is not of this world." 

If any one word can define the relation of the 
churches of Christ to the kingdom of Christ, that one 
word is expressional. They give expression to the 
kingdom — some churches better than others, some 
poorly, some gloriously. But all of them — each one 
complete and independent, according to what it is in 
spirit, doctrine, life, character and service — make ex- 
pression of the mighty things of the kingdom; as a 
man's words express the thoughts that burn in his 
heart and the mighty passion of his soul ; as the crea- 
tions of genius show themselves on the canvas or in 
the marble statue. 

A church itself in organic life is the embodiment of 
something higher. The whole work of a church is 
declarative, — declaring, making manifest the things of 
the kingdom. Its reception of members, its ordination 
of preachers or deacons, its administration of baptism, 
its celebration of the Lord's Supper, — indeed, its very 
preaching of the gospel, — all is but the outward mani- 
festation of things invisible, but real and eternal. The 
gospel of this kingdom shall be preached among all 
nations, and the churches are set for the execution of 
that gigantic and lofty purpose. And its execution 
means the extension of Christ's kingdom. 

This means the churches not as distinguished from 
individuals, but as made up of individuals saved by 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 127 

the grace of God. That is the typical church which 
gives the best expression of the kingdom, in the execu- 
tion of its laws, in the administration of its ordi- 
nances, in the manifestation of its spirit, in the ful- 
fillment of its mission. And the nearer a church comes 
to the kingdom of Christ in every noble and lofty sense, 
the more nearly does it approach the highest ideal and 
purpose of a church of Jesus Christ. 

As brought out in the preceding chapter, Christ in- 
dividualized his churches with great emphasis. Every 
one of them, in and of itself, was a complete organism, 
as if there were no others ; every one of them had its 
own individual organic being and life and mission; 
every one, too, had its own ordinances, baptism and the 
Lord's Supper as essential to its character and work. 
Like the Church of God at Ephesus, purchased by his 
blood, they all had, each one within itself, the one 
Spirit, even as they were called in one hope of their 
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God 
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and 
in them all. 

This shows us again the lofty place the churches 
hold in the plan of redemption. And baptism and the 
Lord's Supper administered in the churches are essen- 
tial to their organic life. There can be no churches 
without them; they are the pictorial presentation of 
the great cardinal facts and doctrines on which both 
church and kingdom are founded. A plea for the or- 
dinances is a plea for organic church life. Any break 
with the ordinances of Christ is a break with the real 



128 The Memorial Supper. 

forces which make for his kingdom, and which find 
embodiment and symbolic representation in these or- 
dinances — joint testimonials as they are, first in the 
kingdom itself, and then as its expression in the 
churches. The churches of Christ did their work in the 
New Testament period, and executed his will in the 
ordinances and in the preaching of the gospel of his 
kingdom. This was the mission of his churches then, 
and is the mission of his churches now — the expression 
of the kingdom through executing the will of the King. 

SUPPLEMENTAL IN THEIR MEANING. 

4. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are companion 
memorials in their meaning and message. What do 
these ordinances mean ? What is their message to the 
world? What do they tell of truth ? What is the won- 
drous word they are saying for God, for Christ, for 
the Holy Spirit? Have they a voice from the past? 
Do they say anything of obligations for the present, 
or anything of hope for the future? These are the 
questions with which to face the great ordinances, and 
their answer will open a wonderful field of study. 
They carry in themselves and voice the whole "Mean 
ing and Message of the Cross." 

They supplement each other in their doctrinal sig- 
nificance. This is true both concerning the facts of 
history which they celebrate, and the interpretation 
of these facts in their relation to us, and in their bless- 
ing to the world. Baptism symbolizes directly and 
with almost startling vividness the burial and the res- 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 129 

urrection of Jesus ; but only by inference does it stand 
for his preceding death and post-resurrection Hfe. The 
Lord's Supper, on the other hand, symboHzes directly 
and with tremendous force the death of Jesus, even 
unto its violence in the broken body and shed blood, 
and testifies also with equal force his new resurrection 
life with its reign of grace and his ever present care 
for his people in the fullness of blessing, but takes for 
granted the mighty events of burial and resurrection 
which intervene between the cross and the crown, be- 
tween the crucifixion and the coronation at the right 
hand of his Father. But the Lord's Supper, more- 
over, with its tender and significant words, shows even 
more than baptism, the purpose of his death — his body 
broken for us, and his blood shed for many for the 
remission of sins. These ordinances may not depend 
on each other as companions, but surely together in 
their memorial beauty they supplement each other 
with wonderful power. Separately, they proclaim 
great facts and symbolize great truths, but together, 
they present in fullness and completeness the great 
facts of Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and pres- 
ent life at the right hand of the Father. 

THEIR message OF A NEW LIFE. 

Again, these ordinances supplement each other in 
symbolizing the experience of grace. Their place in 
Christian experience greatly increases their value and 
importance in the Christian system. Their message as 
memorials, is a joint message of a new life in Christ 

9 



130 The Memorial Supper. 

Jesus. They represent the experience of a believer in 
his becoming a Christian. His baptism in the figure of 
burial and resurrection shows his dying to sin and his 
sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ. It 
symbolizes a new life begun, begun in the soul and 
to be lived out in words and deeds. It emphasizes the 
making of a new creature in Christ Jesus with new 
character and new conduct — ^buried with Christ in bap- 
tism, but raised up again with him to walk in newness 
of life. 

On the other hand, and supplementing this figure of 
a great heart experience, the Lord's Supper symbolizes 
the continuance of this new life, signifies the believer's 
union with Christ, and his spiritual daily feeding upon 
him as the living Bread, which cometh down from 
heaven — manna for the soul, whereof, if a man eat, he 
shall not die nor go hungry any more. Here, again, 
the two ordinances supplement each other as symbols, 
baptism marking the new life in the start, the Lord's 
Supper representing the life in its support and cul- 
mination. Baptism, therefore, comes first, and the 
Lord's Supper follows, as the beginning of life comes 
first and then its nourishment and development. 

In a valuable book of denominational discourses by 
several different men, called Madison Avenue Lectures, 
and published many years ago by the American Bap- 
tist Publication Society, Dr. G. D. B. Pepper presents 
this thought very strongly, as follows : 

"These two rites are the two halves of one whole. Vitally 
and indissolubly connected, they constitute a solid, complete 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 131 

unity. Our birth begins our natural life. Our new birth, 
pur new life. . . . Baptism is the symbol of our spiritual 
birth. The Lord's Supper is the symbol of our spiritual life. 
Baptism is the new birth in symbol; the Lord's Supper, the 
new life in symbol. Baptism must precede the Supper since 
birth precedes life.'* 

These ordinances have this well-established order, 
and are so recognized among Christians. They are a 
great comfort and joy to those who walk in the ways 
of the Lord. And no doubt our Lord himself had a 
sense of satisfaction and joy when he was baptized 
in the Jordan, and turned his face to the future; al- 
though that future held for him the awful tragedies 
toward which the ages were converging. Beyond the 
tragedies were the triumphs, and for the joy that was 
set before him he endured the cross, despising the 
shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. 

THEIR important TESTIMONY IN APOLOGETICS. 

4. These ordinances — ^baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
per — ^are set for the defense of the Gospel. In their 
history, continuous back to New Testament times, they 
are a proof for Christianity, and stand for the historic 
Christ from whose command they have come down to 
us. They are the living witnesses for the cardinal facts 
of the Gospel, viz., the death of the Son of God and 
his burial and resurrection from the tomb, and the 
mighty relation of all this to the believer in Jesus 
Christ. They, also, from their very symbolism, bear 
testimony to the great doctrines of grace, both to these 
doctrines, with their creedal place in the Christian sys- 



12,2 The Memorial Supper. 

tern, and as experienced in the hearts of those whose 
lives are made beautiful through them. Baptism is a 
monument ; the Lord's Supper also is a monument : as 
companion memorials they testify to the marvelous 
transaction which God has wrought in Christ Jesus. 

In my former treatise, recently published, The Moral 
Dignity of Baptism, the value and force of that great 
ordinance to Christian apologetics, is stated as strongly 
as the author could make it. The Lord's Supper stands 
along precisely the same line of argument with won- 
derful evidential power. 

The two ordinances have often been much marred 
and sometimes corrupted in form and purpose and 
spirit, and yet they have nevertheless stood, from the 
first, unbroken and uninterrupted in their line of wit- 
ness bearing. Their voice is a continuous voice heard 
through all the centuries, and all the while testifying 
that Jesus died for our sins and rose again the third 
day, according to the Scriptures. 

Dr. E. C. Dargan, in his Ecclesiology, after a wide 
survey of the Lord's Supper in Christian history, con- 
cludes as follows: 

"The symbolic and memorial character of the ordinance 
has never been wholly lost sight of. The changes have been 
made in the way of additions to the Scriptural idea, and of 
perversions of it. They have not amounted to denial of the 
origin and Scriptural intent of the rite. Well may we say 
with Stanley: 'That so fragile an ordinance should have sur- 
vived so many shocks, so many superstitions, so many cen- 
turies, is itself a proof of the immense vitality of the religion 
which it represents, and of the prophetic foresight of its 
Founder.' In it, through many strange lands and places and 
times; through many hurtful errors and surprising miscon- 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism. 133 

ceptions and unauthorized additions; through many variously- 
organized assemblies of those who profess Christ as their 
Savior; through all the noisy din of unseemly disputation 
and strife, the immortal words of our Lord are heard: 'This 
is my body which is for you. . . , This is my blood which 
was shed for the remission of sin. . . . This do in remem- 
brance of me." 

These ordinances have been the subject of much 
discussion and controversy, and this itself has given 
them emphasis and a place of rank in Christian his- 
tory. But they need now, among the followers of our 
Lord, to be removed from the sphere of Polemics, and 
with a strong, earnest purpose, put into the sphere of 
Christian Apologetics. In the fierce conflict that is 
now on, and becoming fiercer for the very vitals of 
Christianity, and for the very kingship of Jesus and 
his essential Deity, these ordinances will do most valu- 
able and valiant service. They are here as his wit- 
nesses, and their voice cannot be hushed, and it be- 
comes us to see that in their service of witness bearing 
they are untrammeled. 

NEW HONOR FOR THE ORDINANCES. 

There should be no trifling with these great com- 
mandments and ceremonies of the Gospel; they are 
too sacred for that, are too near to the heart of our 
Lord, and mean too much for his doctrine among those 
who have named his name. They should be kept as 
Christ commanded,' and in the order in which he set 
them in the Gospel system. Nothing should be done 
to mar their beauty or weaken their power, or in any 
wise divert their purpose in bearing testimony for 



134 The Memorial Supper. 

Christ and the great things concerning him. We should 
cultivate a fresh sense of love and honor and obliga- 
tion for them in their rightful place in Christian ex- 
perience and life. They should be accorded their prom- 
inent and forceful rank in preaching the gospel, and 
also in the quiet, devout service in the churches of 
Christ. 

Dr. Pepper, quoted above, has left us the following 
suggestive words: 

"And is not baptism an externality? It is, and it is hot. 
It is; but it is also more. It is an externality as human 
language is. The words we utter — these words written — what 
are they but forms traced in ink and paper for the eye? 
. . . Is not language then an externality? . . . What 
are pictures but paint upon canvas? And what are statues 
but marble quarried and chiseled? And surely paint and mar- 
ble are external and material things. . . . Language an 
externality? Yes, save when charged and vitalized with 
human thought and human emotion. Then it is life and 
spirit. The statue and the painting, when embodying grand 
ideals, have ceased to be material. . . . Baptism viewed in 
one way, is baldly outward, a mere rite and ceremony, 
viewed otherwise and truly it is at once a language intense- 
ly charged with God's richest thought and sweetest affection; 
an incarnation of our Redeemer's fondest, brightest ideal; 
and the symbol of all that makes existence glorious." 

These noble words, spoken many years ago by this 
gifted author, are wonderfully true. The great princi- 
ple which they carry, well recognized in all the schools 
of human art, applies to baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
per with clear and peculiar force of meaning. They 
are the embodiment of God's own thought — wonder- 
ful truth with wonderful expression — expression of 
thought which man did not think, and could not con- 



A Companion Memorial to Baptism, 135 

ceive in mind or heart, but which God has revealed to 
him. These glorious ordinances of our Lord, on every 
new and rightful administration, are like fresh revela- 
tion from heaven of their wonderful teaching. 

Some have gone too far, almost far enough lo be 
traitorous to our Lord, in speaking of his ordinances 
as externalities^ with a slighting accent, as "mere cere- 
monies,*' as "mere rites." Surely they are externali- 
ties, and ceremonies, and rites, but they are far more 
— we had almost said, iniinitely more. We may hear 
the voice of God in baptism ; we may hear the voice of 
God in the Lord's Supper, announcing the great things 
of the kingdom — as he spoke to Moses in the symbol 
of the burning bush, and as he spoke to the world out 
of the heavens when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. 
Ordinances lighted up with the glory of heaven and 
vocal with the music of the skies, cannot be called, 
must not be called, "mere ceremony," "mere rite," 
"mere externality" in religion. They are of the out- 
ward, but have on them and in them the very beauty 
and richness of the inward. 

Words, of course, are words, external utterances. 
But what a difference there is between words listed 
separately and singly by themselves, and these same 
words, when thrown into masterful sentences and 
charged almost to breaking with the great thoughts 
and passions of the human heart. You may conjugate 
the verb to love with carelessness and merriment. 
But, oh, what a difference, when that same word trem- 
bles in emotion on the lips or floats in the tear-drop. 



136 The Memorial Supper. 

as the soul tries to express itself in its deeper and 
richer experience. But what shall we say, when God 
gathers up — oh, may the pen venture to say it, when 
God gathers up — his greatest thought and his greatest 
love, and puts them into visible form, gives them ex- 
pression in these great ordinances, that we may see 
them and hear them like the glory and music of the 
stars in singing his praises ? 

Even in the creations of human genius, there is 
much more than the material and the form that comes 
before our eyes. This material and form, of them- 
selves, could not move us. Look at that marble statue 
— almost living stone, even moving your heart with 
power. That is stone from the rock-bed, but is it "mere 
stone"? No, it is stone quarried, hewn, chiseled, cut 
into shape, and somehow has caught the warmth of 
heart and the breath of genius. Besides the marble, 
which is material, there are the mallet and chisel, and 
a hand of flesh and blood and bone — all this is ma- 
terial and comes between the mind and its masterpiece. 
But who will look on the statue and say now it is 
mere marble, or on that painting as a glorious triumph 
of the painter^s art, and say it is only paint and can- 
vas? It is high time, surely, that we cease calling the 
great creations of God's heart mere ceremonies, mere 
rites, mere form, as we look on these glorious, blessed 
ordinances. They voice the meaning and message of 
his grace and love ; and in honoring the ordinances we 
honor God; in glorifying the ordinances we glorify 
Christ. 




CHAPTER VI. 
THE MEMORIAL AND ITS RESTRICTION. 

ERE we encounter a serious and delicate ques- 
tion concerning the Memorial Supper, be- 
cause of the conditions in our modern church 
life. What shall be the bearing of different 
denominations toward each other in observing the 
Lord's Supper? It is the old question of "open com- 
munion" vs. "close communion/' but these terms are 
inadequate, misleading, represent nothing fairly and 
flavor of polemics. The question comes within the 
scope of this discussion, and the answer must be in 
keeping with the lofty meaning and spirit of this holy 
ordinance. 

Here is the issue: Shall the churches of different 
denominations "commune with each other," or shall 
each individual church in its observance of the Lord's 
Supper restrict the Memorial Service to its own mem- 
bers and "members of sister churches of like faith and 
order"? The question is accentuated because of di- 
visions existing among the followers of our Lord. It 
is amply answered in the principles discussed in the 
preceding pages, and might well be passed without 
specific consideration. 

And that course was the first intention, but on sec- 



138 The Memorial Supper. 

ond thought, a frank statement, with a square meeting 
of the issue, seems more fair to all concerned, and is 
more honest and just to the great brotherhood of be- 
lievers under whatsoever name they may be congre- 
gated in assemblies. They love one common Lord, 
have known by common experience the riches of his 
saving grace, and are making common effort to ex- 
tend his kingdom in world-wide conquest. And it is 
due them that the question be answered in a practical, 
straightforward way, so as to learn the situation and 
help settle the issue in the interest of truth — as the 
thing which they all desire and are seeking. 

MAKING PLAIN A COMMON ISSUE. 

For example: the Episcopalians and Methodists — • 
shall they ^'commune together" in their respective 
churches? As mother and daughter historically, they 
believe much in common and "are serving the same 
Lord and aiming to reach the same place." But they 
also differ radically in some matters, of more or less 
importance, and do not exchange pulpits in the min- 
istration of the Word ; shall they come together in the 
ministration of the ordinances, to celebrate the Lord's 
Supper, and in this way declare fellowship for each 
other in church, and in doctrine, and in observing the 
ordinances? Does not the question find full answer 
in its own incongruity? For association at the Lord's 
Table means fellowship in church relation — perhaps 
incidentally, but none the less certainly, and in a very 
pronounced way. The Lord's Supper is a church 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 139 

ordinance, and a badge and token of church fellow- 
ship. 

Again, shall Presbyterians "commune together" with 
the Disciples in the practice of "open communion"? 
Some of their foremost leaders a few years ago, as is 
now remembered, declared, with earnestness and even 
vehemence, against such "mixed communion." The 
two denominations differ radically both in their be- 
lief of fundamental doctrine and in Christian experi- 
ence. It is difficult to see how differences so radical 
and pronounced, in faith and experience and practice, 
could yet so fuse and harmonize as to present the 
beauty of consistency in the holy Memorial. The 
late Dr. John Hall, of New York, perhaps the first 
Presbyterian preacher of his day, left the statement of 
his conviction as follows: "The Baptists differ from 
their brethren as to the time and mode of baptism. I 
do not think the Baptists and Presbyterians differ in 
other respects as to the terms of communion at the 
Lord^s Table." 

An incident in my pastorate is recalled for illustra- 
tion. The several churches in the city were observing 
the Week of Prayer, union services being held in the 
different houses of worship and conducted by the sev- 
eral pastors. The meetings were of unusual interest, 
with increasing congregations night after night. At 
the Baptist Church, on Friday night, with a large 
crowd and fine meeting, a Methodist pastor proposed, 
"to close the week's meeting on Sunday night in a 
joint communion service." One of the Presbyterian 



140 The Memorial Supper. 

pastors, of Scotch blood and character, and a man of 
fine spirit and culture, at once met the proposition 
with the words: "No, sir; no, sir! I trample on no 
man's convictions, and allow no man to trample on 
mine." And then, in a few gracious, fitting words, 
spoken in beautiful spirit, he showed the incongruity 
of such a service. He was a man of great standing in 
the community, and the incident closed. 

It is recalled here to emphasize the fact, that in the 
present conditions of church life, which must be taken 
into account, the followers of our Lord are confronted 
with a solemn, threefold task : ( i ) to be true to Christ 
in all things and at all hazards; (2) to preserve the 
ordinances — Baptism and the Supper — in the order 
and high honor and purpose which our Lord com- 
manded; (3) to cultivate liberal Christian fellowship 
with all Christians of whatever name, and to main- 
tain a course of conduct, honest, consistent and bro- 
therly, with mutual respect for each other — each one 
in the fear of God, true to his own convictions con- 
cerning God's Word and concerning the things which 
God has commanded. 

There is pressing need for deeper and clearer con- 
victions as to the ordinances. Weakness of conviction 
concerning Baptism and the Supper as commandments 
of our Lord, will almost surely lead to weakness of 
conviction concerning other phases of church life, and 
then to looseness in other things. If one can do as he 
pleases concerning the ceremonials of the kingdom, 
with no scriptural conviction regarding them, the way 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 141 

is then wide open to other departures from truth, 
and for serious breaks in Christian character and 
conduct. 

Churches, as well as individuals, have entrustment 
and responsibility, and should walk blameless before 
the Lord in his commandments and ordinances. An 
individual should be what he is, in his church relation, 
from principle and conviction, and then be true to 
his convictions in all faithfulness with God, and in 
dealing with his brethren in the larger brotherhood. 
There is need and ample room for broad and generous 
Christian fellowship, even in the absence of church 
fellowship. 

RESTRICTED TO CHURCH MEMBERS. 

The New Testament takes no note of the condition 
in OHr modern church life with churches differing in 
faith and order. It makes no pronouncement or pro- 
vision for modern differences among churches, for 
the simple reason that these differences did not ex- 
ist in the New Testament times. However, the New 
Testament, as our supreme and sufficient authority in 
these matters, is plain in its teaching and injunctions 
as to churches and church life, as to the ordinances of 
the Lord's house and our duty and privilege in them. 
It certainly provides, as the man of our counsel and 
lamp to our feet, great fundamental principles, which, 
as our guide, apply to all peoples and all times. 

These principles are the universals in Christian faith 
and practice, are far more manifest than is generally 



14^ The Memorial Supper. 

supposed, and should hold a commanding place in our 
mind and life. It is our solemn duty before God, with 
these principles as our guide, to make the present con- 
dition quadrate with the New Testament, as to what 
a church should be in membership, and life, and doc- 
trine, and ordinances, and mission in the world. This 
is the divine pattern, and will always be the highest 
ideal for *'the churches of God," and for extending 
Christ's kingdom in the world, and making Christ's 
name great among men. 

We must measure our church conditions by the 
New Testament, and not the New Testament by our 
conditions. We must fashion after the pattern shown 
us in the Mount. Otherwise, a church may degenerate 
either in life or doctrine, until it becomes a "synagogue 
of Satan/* as the church at Pergamos, and the Lord's 
Supper may degenerate in our hands as at ancient 
Corinth, until it is not the Lord's Table at all, but the 
table of devils. Men are in danger of going to 
fearful lengths in things most sacred, when once they 
depart from the original pattern. Surely, there is no 
room here for boasting, and we need to walk humbly 
before the Lord to keep his house and ordinances as 
he has commanded — fitting conditions to the pattern 
as best we may in his fear and help. 

According to the New Testament, then, as inter- 
preted by Christians of all names, the Lord's Supper 
follows baptism as a prerequisite, and is for church 
members and only church members. This is funda- 
mental and invariable, as brought out in the preceding 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 143 

pages. It is a New Testament principle, clear, strong, 
almost without dispute, and must apply in our mod- 
ern church life and determine our practice in the ob- 
servance of the ordinance. This restricts the Memorial 
Service to church members, and must control their 
conduct. There is no room for divergence, and a de- 
parture from the principle is a departure from the 
New Testament, and is a step downward in church 
life and organization, and is away from the truth as 
it is in Jesus Christ. 

NO EXCEPTIONS IN THE RECORD. 

We must maintain obligation and loyalty to New 
Testament pattern and requirement as our authority. 
There is no other rule of faith and practice. The law 
for our government is not in ourselves, nor in our 
environment, but in the Word of God. Our faith and 
practice must match the New Testament law. If we 
fail here, we are at sea, without compass or chart. 
And when the New Testament restricts the privi- 
leges of the Lord's Supper to church members, that, 
and that only, must be our practice. Every considera- 
tion requires this, and a contrary course is disobedi- 
ence and disloyalty. We honor our Lord in honoring 
his law concerning the ordinances. 

Dr. T. O. Summers, one of the foremost of Southern 
Methodists in his day (Syst. Theol., Vol. II, p. 409), 
states the case as follows; 

"Most certainly baptism is a prerequisite to communion; 
as the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance designed for the 



144 The Memorial Supper. 

members of the church, and none are members who are not 
baptized. But there may be exceptions." (Quoted by Dr. 
Dargan.) 

Mark well this clear and comprehensive statement 
of fundamental principles. The Lord's Supper (i) 
follows baptism; (2) is a church ordinance; (3) is 
designed for church members. In this, Dr. Summers 
represents almost the universal sentiment of Chris- 
tendom. But there are no "exceptions" in the New 
Testament record. There is no provision for ex- 
ceptions. Exceptions would do violence to the na- 
ture and meaning of the ordinance. The Supper was 
designed for church members, and there is no pre- 
cept or example for departure from the original de- 
sign. When Christ has set this order, designed it 
to be so, our duty is clear and imperative, with no 
possible "exceptions." 

THE NEW TESTAMENT PREREQUISITES. 

The Lord's Supper is not open to all persons, re- 
gardless of character and conditions. Some restric- 
tion is necessary in the very nature of the case, and 
restricted communion, using the word for the pres- 
ent as commonly understood, is founded on basal 
principles. The concurrent voice of all order-loving 
Christians requires that the Supper be restricted by 
whatever terms the Lord has prescribed — nothing more 
and certainly nothing less. 

I. Statement of these terms. As a summary and 
standing in a divinely appointed order, there are three 



The MEMOPaAL and Its Restriction. 145 

qualifications, or prerequisites, for admission to the 
Lord's Supper. 

(a) Faith in Christ. By this, we mean saving faith 
— such faith as presupposes conviction of sin and re- 
pentance toward God ; which consists in a personal ap- 
prehension of Christ as Savior — that act of the soul 
which appropriates the merit of his atoning blood, and 
which furthermore involves the idea of regeneration 
or a change in the moral nature, and conversion or 
practical piety. One must have this — must be a Chris- 
tian. Otherwise, his participation in the Supper would 
be void of significance. For here is symbolized, among 
other things, faith in Christ as a crucified Savior— a 
constant dependence of the soul upon him for spirit- 
ual food and life. Remove this, and the ordinance is a 
shadow without the substance; nothing remains to be 
symbolized. But faith in Christ, though necessary, is 
not the only prerequisite. The person must be a Chris- 
tian, and yet not all Christians are fully qualified for 
this holy service. Christ has prescribed terms of ad- 
mission to his Supper for those who believe in him 
and who love him, and from these he expects obedi- 
ence. Admitting that a person is a Christian, is by 
no means tantamount to admitting that he is qualified 
for the Memorial Supper of our Lord. 

(b) Christian baptism. We do not now raise the 
question as to what is essential to the integrity of this 
ordinance, but simply name it as prerequisite to the 
Lord's Supper. It is so only because Christ made it 
so. But this is sufiicient reason; and, therefore, as a 

10 



146 The Memorial Supper. 

prerequisite, baptism is indispensable. All who come 
to the Lord's Table must first be baptized, for so 
Christ has commanded. And so all hold and teach, 
but something more is essential. 

(c) Membership in Christ's Church. From a Bap- 
tist point of view, this qualification includes both the 
others. None are qualified for church membership 
except baptized believers — only such as have been 
baptized upon a credible profession of personal faith 
in Christ. It is better, however, for present purposes, 
to hold these distinct, and mark each as a separate pre- 
requisite to the Supper; because being a Christian, or 
being baptized, or the two combined, do not constitute 
one a member of the church, nor entitle him to church 
privileges, save as these are received in their divinely 
appointed order. Dr. J. L. Dagg states the relation of 
baptism to church membership as follows: "Baptism 
is, therefore, a qualification for admission into a church 
of external organization; but it does not confer mem- 
bership.'* 

Not only is Christian fellowship necessary, but 
church fellowship as well. These are radically differ- 
ent, and distinct one from the other. Baptism stands 
between them, essential to church fellowship, but not 
essential to Christian fellowship. 

2. These terms are scriptural. They are not of 
human appointment. Christ put them there. This, as 
Lord of the Table, he had a right to do. This he did in 
Matt. 28: 19, 20: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples 
of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 147 

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ; teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you : and lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world." 

This commission is the Magna Charta given to the 
churches to guide them in their practice through all 
time, and enjoins three things: (a) Make disciples 
(mathetuo) or Qiristians from among all the nations 
of the earth; (b) baptize those previously made disci- 
ples into the name of the Holy Trinity; (c) indoc- 
trinate (didasko) those previously discipled and bap- 
tized — teaching them, first, all the requirements of 
Christ ; and, second, faithful observance of all these. 

This order not only has the sanction of divine wis- 
dom, but is the requirement of divine authority. It is 
unreasonable and unsafe to violate either the require- 
ments or the order — in fact, the observance of the 
order laid down is part of the requirement. In the Acts 
of the Apostles is furnished us an inspired commen- 
tary upon this commission. And the whole record 
shows how rigidly the specified order was observed 
by men having the infallible inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit. Take one example, viz.. Acts 2:38-42. (a) 
By preaching the gospel, made pow^erful through the 
Spirit's operation, men were made disciples — i.e.. 
Christians — believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This 
is the first qualification, (b) Then these, having gladly 
received the Word, were baptized — second step in the 
commission, and the second qualification to the Sup- 
per, (c) Then they that were added unto them, be- 



148 The Memorial Supper. 

came members with the disciples — the third qualifica- 
tion. Hence, after having been discipled, and after 
having been baptized, and after having been added 
unto the disciples, "they continued steadfastly in the 
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of 
bread and in prayers." This procedure accords with 
the method described by Christ, and confirms our 
statement of the terms of admission to the Supper, 
viz., faith in Christ ; baptism into the name of the Holy 
Trinity; church membership. 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DECIDING. 

But there is one other question : Who shall judge and 
decide whether the candidate for communion has com- 
plied with these several prerequisites f The question 
has but one of two answers, — either the candidate him- 
self or the church with which he desires communion. 

(i) Shall the man himself be the judge of his own 
fitness? This, if admitted, will force conclusions so 
repulsive that the most liberal of the liberal would re- 
fuse them. For then, everybody may come, whatever 
his principles, or character, or life. But no denomina- 
tion allows this. Every church, whether Catholic, 
Protestant, or Baptist, holds terms of admission to its 
communion, places restraint of some kind at some 
point, and judges of the fitness of all candidates. And 
whatever be the claim to liberality, yet either by ex- 
plicit statement or easy implication, some limit is put 
upon the invitation. There is not an open communion 
church in the world — strictly speaking. 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 149 

(2) The church must decide whether the person has 
compHed with the terms and is qualified for the Sup- 
per. This is no infringement upon the voluntary prin- 
ciple of Christianity. The exhortation, "Let a man ex- 
amine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and 
drink of that cup," is addressed to church members, 
and imposes upon them self-examination prior to com- 
munion. It has nothing whatever to do with a person 
outside. The church has the prerogative of saying 
whether a person shall be admitted to her membership 
and communion. 

Christ also requires of his churches the duty of ex- 
cluding from membership any unworthy persons. 
Church discipline is taken for granted throughout the 
New Testament. And Christ commended its proper 
use, and censured its neglect in the apostolic churches. 
(See Matt. 18: 17; I Cor. 5: 11; 11: 18-20; II Thess. 
3:6; Titus 3: 10, 11; Rev. 3:2, 14, 15.) 

There is absolute necessity for such judgment and 
faithful action on the part of a church. For in all 
denominations the church does judge of the fitness 
of applicants for membership, of the fitness of candi- 
dates for baptism (even infants), and of the fitness 
of members to retain membership. A church has the 
authority to say who shall be admitted to baptism, — 
one of the Christian ordinances — and also the right 
to say who shall be admitted to the Lord's Supper, the 
other Christian ordinance. But in judging, the church 
can apply but one standard. This is found not in its 
likes or dislikes, but in the law of the New Testament, 



150 The Memorial Supper. 

viz., faith in Christ, Christian baptism, church member- 
ship, always as prerequisites to the communion. A 
church can, therefore, consistently admit or invite to 
the Lord's Supper only those who, in her judgment, 
have complied with these terms. 

AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL SYMPOSIUM. 

The prerequisites to the Supper, which have been 
named, because of their manifest scripturalness have 
found a place in nearly all of the creeds of evangelical 
Christendom. As previously mentioned, the princi- 
ples of communion are common to all denominations. 
However widely they may differ, all are together in the 
principles involved — in the prerequisites for coming 
to the Lord's Supper. 

Sufficient attention has not been given to the uni- 
versals in Christian belief and practice. Indeed, these 
are almost entirely overlooked in the divided condition 
of the followers of our Lord. Much is said about di- 
vision, but there is far more unity of belief than is 
generally supposed. These universals — things in which 
Christians of every name agree, are easily noted and 
might be called the axioms of the Christian system. 
To enumerate them here would take us too far away 
from the line and purpose of this discussion. How- 
ever, they give emphasis to the single point now under 
consideration. 

The New Testament law for observing the Lord's 
Supper is simple and clear and positive; it requires, 
as we have seen, the spiritual qualification of a new 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 151 

heart and a new life through faith in the Lord Jesus, 
and the ceremonial prerequisite of baptism and mem- 
bership in the church. There is scarcely a variation 
among Christians on this point. And the following 
brief symposium from the different denominations in- 
dicates how they line up and voice their sentiment in 
this one item of belief and practice : 

Dr. Doddridge, Independent Presbyterian: 

It is certain that as far as our knowledge of primitive 
antiquity extends no unbaptized person received the Lord's 
Supper. How excellent soever any man's character is he 
must be baptized before he can be looked upon as completely 
a member of the church of Christ. 

Dr. Wall, Episcopalian: 

No church ever gave the communion to any person before 
he was baptized; among all the absurdities that were ever 
held none ever held this, that any person should partake of 
the communion before he was baptized. 

Dr. D wight, Congregational: 

It is an indispensable qualification for this ordinance, that 
the candidate for communion be a member of the visible 
church of Christ. By this I intend that he should be a per- 
son of piety; that he should have made a public profession of 
religion; and that he should have been baptized. 

Dr. Hibbard, Methodist: 

It is but just to remark that in one principle the Bap- 
tist and Pedobaptist churches agree. They both agree m 
rejecting from the Table of the Lord, and in denying the 
rights of church fellowship, to all who have not been bap- 
tized. Valid baptism they (the Baptists) consider essential 
to constitute visible church membership. This we (Pedobap- 
tists) also hold. The only question then that divides us is, 
What is valid baptism? . . . Previous to baptism (he 
conlinues) the individual has no rights in the visible church. 



152 The Memorial Supper. 

No society of Christians would receive an unbaptized person 
into its community and tender to him the privileges of their 
body. So far as proper church rights and privileges are con- 
cerned, he is regarded as any other unconverted man. The 
converts of the day of Pentecost were first baptized, and then 
added to the church. The concurrent voice of the Christian 
world would exclude an unbaptized person from fellowship 
in the visible church of Christ. 

Dr. John Dick, Presbyterian: 

An uncircumcised man was not permitted to eat the pass- 
over, and an unbaptized man should not be permitted to 
partake of the Eucharist. I begin with baptism, by which 
we are initiated into the church, and which in the order of 
dispensation precedes the Lord's Supper. 

Dr. Griffin, Presbyterian: 

I agree with the advocates of close communion . , . 
that we ought not to commune with those who have not been 
baptized, and of course are not church-members, even if we 
regard them as Christians. — Gardner's Church Communion. 

Elder J. W. McGarvey, Disciple ("Apostolic Times," 

November 7, 1874) : 

We believe that faith, repentance, and baptism are the 
scriptural prerequisites to the Lord's Supper, and that no 
believer is entitled to the ordinance until he has been bap- 
tized. We believe that the privilege belongs to all baptized 
believers who are leading an orderly life, and to none others. 

Dr. Hiscox, "Baptist Short Method" (page 15) : 

The Baptists assert that those only who are regenerate, 
have been baptized upon a profession of faith in Christ, and 
are living in a godly and Christian manner as members of 
the church, have a right to, or can properly partake of, the 
Supper. 

Here we may compare the views of Presbyterians, 
Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Disci- 
ples and Baptists. And on even the "communion'' 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 153 

question there is agreement. They all hold the same 
terms of admission to the Lord's Table, viz., faith, 
baptism, church membership. This is strong evidence 
for the scripturalness of these terms, and shows that 
the principles involved are common to all. 

Throughout this symposium, whatever denomina- 
tion is speaking, the restrictive principle is always the 
same, and in each case restricts the observance of the 
Lord's Supper to those that have been baptized as 
church members. This oneness of belief and oneness 
of testimony is in no wise weakened because of disa- 
greement as to the question of baptism and the nature 
of the churches of Christ. The one fact remains as to 
this New Testament requirement, and its almost uni- 
versal acceptance by the followers of our one Lord. 
There may come, indeed, there do come, divergences 
in the practical application of the principle, but there 
is perfect agreement in the principle of restriction. 
In this matter Baptists are in no wise different from 
others, but are in accord with their brethren of other 
name in what they require as prerequisite to the Lord's 
Supper. 

DEFINITION OF CHURCH AND ITS ORDINANCES. 

This law of restriction makes it very important to 
inquire, What is baptism? What is the meaning of 
the Lord's Supper? What is the nature of a church 
of Christ, and what is the character of its member- 
ship? These questions do not have uniform ansv/ers 
from the several denominations. We must turn away 



154 The Memorial Supper. 

from the conflicting voices in the modern church life, 
and seek our answer only in the New Testament, and 
that answer must determine our practice. We must 
preserve consistency and harmony between what we 
believe and what we do, between our principles and 
our practice. 

As to a New Testament church, or a church. organ- 
ized after the New Testament pattern, a definition is 
not easy. Indeed, no categorical definition was given 
either by our Lord or by his disciples. They simply 
put before us, in the inspired record, first, the church, 
and then the churches; all fashioned after one pat- 
tern in organism and membership and ordinances and 
life and work. They show us in these living examples : 
( I ) what these churches were in original organic struc- 
ture; (2) what they were doing in fulfillment of their 
mission; and (3), in many cases, what churches should 
not be and should not do. 

Every organization claiming to be a church of Jesus 
Christ, in Its essential features of organism and faith 
and practice, must be measured by the New Testa- 
ment. As an aid in applying this simple test, defini- 
tions are submitted herewith of a church and its ordi- 
nances. These definitions were furnished by repre- 
sentative men among us, but whose names are with- 
held, that the definitions themselves may be impersonal 
and stand in their individual worth as a guide in our 
study. They are representative, but have no authority 
whatever, except so far as they speak the New Testa- 
ment word, and furnish the New Testament pattern. 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 155 

They are not a standard, but a test, and the test itself 
is tentative and to be tested by the teaching and prac- 
tice of Christ and his apostles, which alone furnish us 
with the final word. But these definitions will either 
fill the requirement or at least help to a better defini- 
tion. 

TBOM INDIVIDUAL MEN. 

"A church is a body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ 
who have been baptized and have banded themselves for the 
furtherance of the Gospel of Christ. Certain officers, such as 
pastor and deacons, may be desirable for the church's highest 
efficiency, but are not necessary to the church's existence." 

"A church is a body of believers vrho have been baptized 
according to the Scriptures and constituted under the laws 
of Christ its Head to uphold his doctrine, propagate his 
gospel and to do all things he has commanded." 

"A church is a body of immersed believers voluntarily 
associated together, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
for the maintenance of the ordinances, for spiritual growth 
p.nd mutual helpfulness in Christian life, for the advancement 
of all forms of righteousness, and to preach the gospel to th« 
whole world." 

"A church, organized in accordance with the requirements 
of the New Testament, is a body of professed believers in 
Christ, baptized on a credible confession of faith in him, 
associated for worship, work and discipline." 

rBOM THE ABSTBACT OF PBLN-CIPLES OF THE SOUTHEBX BAPTIST 
THEOLOGICAL SEMLN^ABT. 

"The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is com- 
posed of all his true disciples, and in him is invested su- 
premely all power for its government. According to his 
commandment, Christians are to associate themselves into 
particular societies or churches; and to each of these churches 
he hath given needful authority for administering that order, 
discipline and worship which he hath appointed. The regu- 
lar officers of a church are Bishops or Elders and Deacons." 

"Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory 
upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in 



156 The Memorial Supper. 

the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit, as a aign of his fellowship with the death and resur- 
rection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving him- 
self up to God, to live and walk in newness of life. It is 
prerequisite to church fellowship, and to participa.tion in the 
Lord's Supper." 

"The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, to be 
administered with the elements of bread and wine, and to 
be observed by his churches till the end of the world. It is 
in no sense a sacrifice, but is designed to commemorate his 
death, to confirm the faith and other graces of Christians, 
and to be a bond, pledge and renewal of their communion 
with him, and of their church fellowship." 

THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CONFESSION. 

"We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congrega- 
tion of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the 
faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances 
of Christ; governed by his laws; and exercising the gifts^ 
rites and privileges invested in them by his word; that its 
only scriptural officers are Bishops, or Pastors, and Deacons, 
whose qualifications, claim, and duties are defined in the 
epistles to Timothy and Titus. 

"We believe that Christian Baptism is the immersion in 
water of a believer, into the name of the Father, and Son, 
and Holy Ghost; to show forth, in a solemn and beautiful 
emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Sav- 
ior, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to 
a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a 
church relation; and to the Lord's Supper; in which the 
members of the church, by the sacred use of bread and wine 
are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; pre- 
ceded always by solemn self-examination." 

These definitions, as used in this discussion, refer to 
a "visible," "local" or "particular" church, and fairly 
represent the Baptist faith and practice concerning the 
churches and the two ordinances. They are the ex- 
pression of what our people believe the New Testa- 
ment teaches, and furnish a statement of the New Tes- 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 157 

tament pattern. This, at least, Is our conception, and 
must stand until supplanted by something more nearly 
in accord with the Word of God. Following their 
lead, we itemize the several principles, as follows : 

First. A Church of Christ must be "organized in 
accordance with the requirement of the New Testa- 
ment" ; and so looks to the New Testament as its rule 
and authority for faith and practice. 

Second. A church is composed of believers, "bap- 
tized upon a credible confession of faith" in Christ, 
and "voluntarily associated together under the guid- 
ance of the Holy Spirit." 

Third. A church is entrusted with admmistration of 
the ordinances — baptism to those becoming members 
and at the beginning of their membership, and the 
Lord's Supper to those who are members, adminis- 
tered frequently and until he comes. 

Fourth. Baptism is immersion in form and pre- 
requisite to the Lord's Supper, both ordinances being 
symbolic in design, an outward expression of the new 
life in the Son of God, and a token of church fellow- 
ship. 

Fifth. Believers are associated and organized into 
churches for worship, work and discipline ; their work 
being to edify each other in love, to preach the gospel 
to the whole world, and to do all things Christ has 
commanded, and for his honor and glory. 

Thus, it appears that a church is unique as an or- 
ganization, has peculiar relation and solemn obliga- 
tion to Christ concerning his ordinances, and is out 



158 The Memorial Supper. 

in the world on a great and glorious mission. A true 
church stands for everything the Son of God stands 
for in doctrine and purpose and life and mission. The 
highest honor and glory of a church, is to honor the 
King in a life of obedience and in a service of love 
and loyalty. 

WHAT THESE PRINCIPLES REQUIRE. 

It IS worth while to mark again the points of agree- 
ment in this discussion among all Christians. They 
all agree : ( i ) There must be some restriction of the 
Lord's Supper; (2) That the restriction must be what 
Christ appointed in the terms of admission to this or- 
dinance; (3) These terms are faith, baptism and 
church membership, and are, therefore, prerequisites 
to the Lord's Supper; (4) That the church must de- 
cide whether the candidate for communion has com- 
plied with these terms. These principles, common with 
all denominations, are the basis of our practice, and 
require church fellowship as prerequisite to the Sup- 
per. 

The quotations already given in the symposium 
from other denominations, show that they all restrict 
the Lord's Table in the same way and on the same 
principles. For the Methodists, Dr. Hibbard expressed 
it : "We agree in rejecting from the Table of the Lord, 
and in denying the rights of church fellowship to all 
who have not been baptized." For the Disciples, Elder 
J. W. McGarvey expressed it: "We believe the privi- 
lege belongs to all baptized believers who are living 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 159 

an orderly life, and to no others." For the Presbyte- 
rians, Dr. Griffin expressed it: "We agree . . . that 
we ought not to commune with those who are not bap- 
tized, and, of course, are not church members, even if 
we regard them as Christians." For the Baptists, Dr. 
Hiscox expressed it : "Those only who are regenerate, 
have been baptized upon a profession of faith in 
Christ, and are living in a godly and Christian man- 
ner as members of the church, have a right to, or can 
properly partake of, the Supper." 

The difference is only one of statement. There is 
no disagreement, whatever, upon this whole subject, 
until we begin to answer the questions : What is faith ? 
What is baptism? What is church membership? All 
agree that these three things are essential prerequi- 
sites to the Supper, but differ in defining them. Bap- 
tists must follow their own definition, or be untrue to 
their Lord and disloyal to principles common to all 
Christians. Baptist churches, therefore, restrict their 
observance of the Lord's Supper to church members 
of their own denomination. Believing as they do, they 
could not practice otherwise. They must change their 
principles or continue their practice. 

It is not generally understood how much Baptists 
must yield in order to intercommunion with other de- 
nominations. They assume nothing to themselves of 
superiority over others. But to commune with others, 
Baptists must abandon principles now common to all, 
and must believe that the others have complied with all 
the terms of admission to the Supper. They make 



i6o The Memorial Supper. 

no question, whatever, about members of other de- 
nominations being Christians, but even Christians need 
further qualifications before coming to the Lord's 
Table. 

There must be church fellowship as well as Chris- 
tian fellowship. Baptist churches receive persons for 
membership upon a relation of Christian experience, 
and give them the hand of Christian fellowship. But 
these persons do not commune until after baptism and 
reception into full church fellowship. It frequently 
occurs that the communion season in a church finds 
such persons awaiting the ordinance of baptism. They 
are considered Christians, have been received into 
Christian fellowship as Christians, but are not invited 
to the Lord's Supper. Baptist churches act toward 
their brethren of other denominations precisely as they 
act toward candidates for baptism and membership in 
their own churches. But intercommunion requires that 
Baptists admit the scripturalness of baptism as prac- 
ticed by other denominations. They readily admit that 
the others believe themselves baptized and are honest 
in their convictions and satisfied with their baptism. 
But this is not sufficient. Other denominations desire 
that Baptists shall also be satisfied, and shall recognize 
their baptism as the baptism of the New Testament 
as to form and subject and design. And this is nec- 
essary to intercommunion. Baptists must change 
their views of baptism or continue their practice 
of restricting the Lord's Supper to their own mem- 
bers. 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. i6i 

believer's baptism a prerequisite. 

Baptists hold that only professed believers in Christ 
are scriptural subjects of baptism. Infant baptism, 
however venerated by others, is meaningless and hurt- 
ful, and a contravention of Christ's law, as viewed by 
Baptists. They are compelled to reject it, and do not 
believe that those sprinkled in infancy have been bap- 
tized. And for the following reasons : 

First. The nature of the ordinance of baptism re- 
quires, on the part of the candidate, an intelligent pro- 
fession of personal faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. 

Second. Every argument urged in support of infant 
baptism is of equal force in support of infant com- 
munion. And every objection made to infant com- 
munion may also be made to infant baptism. And yet, 
infant communion is rejected by all denominations in 
this country. 

Third. Pedobaptists have never agreed among them- 
selves just where and when infant baptism had its rise ; 
or where or how it is taught; or what its advantages 
and significance. It is a noted fact that every passage 
of Scripture quoted in its favor and every argument 
used in its advocacy, without a single exception, have 
been declared by one or more Pedobaptists to fur- 
nish no support to infant baptism. This is well recog- 
nized by those familiar with the discussion of the sub- 
ject. 

Fourth. Baptism is a New Testament ordinance. 
Here, alone, can we learn anything as to its nature, 
n 



i62 The Memorial Supper. 

design or subject. Yet many Pedobaptlsts have con- 
ceded that in the New Testament they have not found 
a command, or a precept, or an example of infant 
baptism. On this subject the New Testament is silent. 
This statement shall be verified by quotation from 
two of their authors, one of this country, the other of 
Europe. 
Julius Muller, of Germany, says: 

The manner in which the apostles everywhere speak of 
baptism, together with 1 Cor. 7: 14, and the narratives of 
the oldest church history, put it beyond doubt that infant 
baptism had no place in the apostolic Church. 

Dr. A. T. Bledsoe, editor of the "Southern Re- 
view" (Methodist Quarterly), wrote: 

With all our searching, we have been unable to find in 
the New Testament a single express declaration or word in 
favor of infant baptism. We justify the rite, therefore, solely 
on the ground of logical inference, and not on any express 
word of Christ and his apostles. This may, perhaps, be 
deemed by some of our readers a strange position for a 
Pedobaptist. It is by no means, however, a singular opinion. 
Hundreds of learned Pedobaptists have come to the same 
conclusion, especially since the New Testament has been sub- 
jected to a closer, more conscientious, and more candid exegesis 
than was formerly practiced by controversialists. 

Infant baptism is more and more on the wane, even 
in those churches where it has been held so long as a 
principle. This is inevitable in the face of the facts 
presented here. When people turn to the New Testa- 
ment as their law, and find no such word for infant 
baptism, the practice is sure to go out of use, "espe- 
cially since the New Testament has been subjected to 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 163 

a closer, more conscientious, and more candid exegesis 
than was formerly practiced." And with infant bap- 
tism set aside as no baptism at all, then it follows that 
the baptism of believers in Christ, is the baptism which 
is prerequisite to the Lord's Supper. 

IMMERSION THE ESSENTIAL FORM. 

That immersion in water is essential to Christian 
baptism. Baptists believe from the following and other 
facts : 

First. The Greek word haptizo, the only word ever 
used by inspired writers to designate this Christian 
ordinance, is not translated at all in our English Bible, 
but simply transferred, and means to dip, plunge, im- 
merse. Our English word dip is not more uniform in 
its meaning. In his work on baptism (page 51), Moses 
Stuart, a Pedobaptist scholar, says: "The word hap- 
tizo means to dip, plunge, immerse. All lexicographers 
and critics of any note are agreed in this." Moses 
Stuart said that nearly half a century ago, and his 
statement has been confirmed by the best modern 
scholarship. The word never means either sprinkle 
or pour, but always to immerse, or something in har- 
mony with that idea. This is the word used by our 
Savior when he commanded — "baptizing them." 

Second. Nothing but immersion will satisfy all the 
references to the ordinance in the New Testament. 
Immersion, accordant with them all, is absolutely de- 
manded by many of them. Sprinkling and pouring, 
opposed by many of these references, are demanded by 



164 The Memorial Supper. 

none. This is significant. Nothing but immersion will 
make throughout the New Testament an intelligent 
substitution for baptism. 

Third. It has been conceded repeatedly by the best 
scholarship of the world, Pedobaptists as well as 
others, that the primitive or apostolic method of ad- 
ministering the ordinance of Christian baptism was 
by immersion. 

Fourth. Moses Stuart quoted, approvingly, a Cath- 
olic work, recent at that time, as follows: "Thirteen 
hundred years (until within three hundred years of 
the present) was baptism generally and ordinarily per- 
formed by the immersion of man under water; and 
only in extraordinary cases was sprinkling or affusion 
permitted. These later methods of baptism were called 
in question and even prohibited." Such testimony 
could be quoted indefinitely. 

Fifth. The Greek Church, speaking the Greek lan- 
guage, rivaling the Roman Catholic Church in an- 
tiquity and numerical strength, and extending over 
some of the coldest regions of the world, has always 
practiced immersion alone as baptism, even immers- 
ing infants, as was done by others when infant bap- 
tism first began, about the middle of the third cen- 
tury. 

Sixth. A person who has been immersed, if a proper 
subject, never becomes dissatisfied with his baptism. 
It is to him "the answer of a good conscience." It is 
never called in question by any church whatever. Im- 
mersion, like gold coin, passes everywhere as baptism. 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 165 

This is not true of any other form in which the ordi- 
nance is administered. ''SprinkHng and pouring have 
no claims on grounds philological, historical or theo- 
logical, literal or figurative, to represent baptism." 
Baptists do not accept these as baptism, and, with 
them, it is no question of mere quantity of water, but 
of Christ's requirement and of our obedience. In 
view of these facts. Baptists do not consider anything 
Christian baptism except immersion in water, of a pro- 
fessed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, in 
order to intercommunion, they must recognize sprink- 
ling as baptism, and infant baptism as authorized by 
the Word of God. Of course, this cannot be done, 
and intercommunion is impossible with them. 

Furthermore, while the several denoniinations, in- 
cluding the Baptists, may have Christian fellowship 
so far as they manifest the spirit of Christ, yet in 
the very nature of things there can be no church fel- 
lowship. Church fellowship means, at least, common 
church relation, and ought to mean much more, and 
is prerequisite to the Lord's Supper. It cannot exist 
with things as they now are, even where there is ar- 
dent and beautiful Christian fellowship and coopera- 
tion in Christian work. 

Baptists do not exchange communion with Pedo- 
baptists because of their views of baptism, but mani- 
festly there is another and more radical reason. There 
is a want on both sides of church fellowship. The 
question so often asked, "Why do not Baptists com- 
mune with Christians of other denominations who have 



i66 The Memorial Supper. 

been immersed?" finds a full answer in these princi- 
ples. And, besides, not every immersed person is bap- 
tized. Every baptism is an immersion, but not every 
immersion is baptism. The Lord's Supper, as fre- 
quently said, is a church ordinance for church mem- 
bers, and serves as a token of church fellowship. 
Where there is no church fellowship, there can be no 
consistent intercommunion. If there be no fellowship 
in baptism, there can be no fellowship in the Lord's 
Supper. 

And until Baptists are ready to abandon their pe- 
culiar views as to the nature of the churches of Christ, 
and surrender their views as to the form and subject 
and design of baptism, they cannot surrender their 
views of the Lord's Supper or take one step toward in- 
tercommunion with other denominations. Unless Bap- 
tists believe them baptized, they must decline giving 
or accepting invitations for associations at the Lord's 
Table. For, as has already been quoted from Dr. 
Hibbard, of the Methodists : "The concurrent voice of 
the Christian world would exclude an unbaptized per- 
son from fellowship in the visible church of Christ." 
And from Dr. Griffin, for the Presbyterians: "We 
ought not to commune with those who have not been 
baptized, and, of course, are not church members, even 
if we regard them as Christians." Our people are 
unwilling to put themselves at variance with "the con- 
current voice of the Christian world," in a principle so 
manifestly accordant with sound reason and the plain 
teaching of the Word of God. 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 167 



THE BAPTIST VIEW AS SEEN BY OTHERS. 

Writers of high standing in other denominations 
have expressed themselves quite freely as to the Bap- 
tist view of the Lord's Supper. Some of these are 
presented herewith, in appreciation of their high words 
of commendation. 

"The Apostolic Times" (Vol. VIL, No. 23), in an 
editorial reproduced from the "Christian Quarterly," 
and speaking for the Disciples, said: 

Baptists, however, do not allow anything to be baptism 
but the immersion of a believer; and in this the disciples are 
in perfect agreement with them; hence, neither of these 
churches can consistently advocate open communion. 

"The Congregational Journal" editorially said: 

Did we believe that only believers who have been immersed 
are baptized, and that only baptized persons have a right to 
the Lord's Table, we should believe and practice strict com- 
munion; and we should almost consider it an insult to be 
required to give it up without a change of views on the sub- 
ject of baptism. . . We, as Pedobaptists, are close com- 
munionists, and we hope we shall never cease to be such. 
The only difference between us and our Baptist brethren re- 
spects the mode and subjects of baptism, the validity of Chris- 
tian baptism. But we both agree in rejecting all unbaptized 
persons from the communion. The only legitimate subjects 
of controversy between us and the Baptists are the subjects 
and mode of baptism. 

"The Interior," the Presbyterian organ in Chicago, 
said in a recent editorial : 

The difference between our Baptist brethren and ourselves 
is an important difference. We agree with them, however, in 
saying unbaptized persons should not partake of the Lord's 



i68 The Memorial Supper. 

Supper. Their views compel them to believe that we are not 
baptized, and shut them up to close communion. Close com- 
munion, in our judgment, is a more defensible position than 
open communion, which is justified on the ground that bap- 
tism is not a prerequisite to the partaking of the Supper. To 
chide Baptists with bigotry because they abide by the logical 
consequence of their system is absurd. We think that they 
are wrong in reference to the mode and subjects of baptism, 
and should not hesitate to take grounds against their inter- 
pretation; but we would not be silent about their interpreta- 
tion, and then charge them with bigotry for a consistent ad- 
herence to their interpretation. 

H. W. Beecher, in the "Christian Union," said : 

A Pedobaptist who believes that baptism is a prerequisite 
to communion has no right to censure the Baptist churches 
for close communion. On this question there is a great deal 
of pulling out of motes by people whose own vision is not 
clear. . . . We have no disposition to join in the censure 
which is so freely bestowed upon Baptists for their princi- 
ples and practice of restricted communion. Their course on 
this question, however mistaken, is certainly consistent, and 
we must yield them the respect due to all who adhere firmly 
to their conscientious convictions. 

Dr. John Hall, Presbyterian, declared, concerning 
those who censure the Baptists for their restricted 
communion, as follows: 

Whether their assailants act wisely or kindly in that mat- 
ter, or not, is an open question. It is a course of doubtful 
catholicity to raise a popular cry against a most valuable 
body of people who honestly and consistently go through 
with what they deem an important principle. "Charity suf- 
fereth long, and is kind." 

Robert Hall, of England, though a Baptist, was the 
leader of open communion in his country. He, how- 
ever, denied the principle that baptism is a prerequisite 
to the Supper. But he held that, with this principle 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 169 

admitted, close communion with Baptists was not only 
justifiable, but inevitable. In his works (Vol. II., pp. 
212, 213), he says: 

Let it be admitted that baptism is under all circumstances 
a necessary condition of church fellowship, and it is impossi- 
ble for Baptists to act otherwise. This practice ... is the 
inevitable consequence of the opinion generally entertaine'd 
respecting communion, conjoined with their peculiar views 
of the baptismal rite. The recollection of this may suffice 
to rebut the ridicule and silence the clamor of those who 
loudly condemn the Baptists for a proceeding which, were 
they but to change their opinion on the subject of baptism, 
their own principles would compel them to adopt. They both 
concur in a common principle, from which the practice 
deemed so offensive is the necessary result. 

In his work, "What Christians Believe," published 
some years ago. Dr. Miles G. Bullock, pastor of the 
East Methodist Episcopal Church, Oswego, N. Y., 
says: 

"Now summarize a little. A Baptist maintains that only 
believers are to be baptized: hence, infant baptism is non- 
sense; baptism is baptism only by immersion; baptized be- 
lievers only have any right to the Lord's Table. 

"How can they, therefore, consistently invite or allow me, 
having only been sprinkled, and that in infancy, to commune 
with them? Do they keep me away from the Lord's Table, 
or is it I who am responsible for this neglect of this sacra- 
ment, having refused to comply with the essential conditions 
of its reception? 

"Close communion, as it is generally termed, is the only 
logical and correct course for Baptist churches to pursue. 
If their premises are right, the conclusion is surely just as 
it should be." 

"Let us honor them for stern steadfastness in maintaining 
what they believe to be a Bible precept, rather than criticise 
and censure because they differ with us concerning the intent 
and mode of Christian baptism, and believe it to be an ir- 
repealable condition of coming to the Lord's Supper." 



I/O The Memorial Supper. 

These kind words are at once a credit to the several 
authors, and high approval of the Baptist position con- 
cerning the Lord's Supper. It is a testimony to the 
soundness of their principles and the consistency of 
their practice in its observance. While not wanting 
in appreciation of these goodly words, Baptists turn 
aside from human opinion and public favor, in matters 
of religious faith and practice, to the Word of God. 
The Scriptures are their one authority and their one 
rule of faith. 

THE ONE STANDARD OF AUTHORITY. 

All the principles of New Testament church order 
require that a church in observing the Lord's Supper 
restrict the service to its own members and those of 
like faith and practice — within the hounds of church 
fellowship. The contrary course, commonly called 
"open communion," violates all these principles, is full 
of inconsistency and incongruity, and tends to evil in 
many ways. In the great questions of church life, we 
are forced back to the Word of God, especially to the 
New Testament. As an issue between Christians of 
different names, this is no mere question of polemics. 
It is a plea with the followers of our one Lord for 
loyalty to the one standard of authority. 

Christ prayed for the oneness of his people, but we 
may be very sure he was not praying for a union in 
which his own high ordinances should be set aside, 
or marred in their beauty and robbed of their lofty 
significance. The ordinances stand for him, and dis- 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 171 

loyalty concerning them is disloyalty to him. Christ is 
a King with a kingdom; and his cause on earth is a 
kingdom having its expression through his churches, 
and having him as King, crowned even now and at the 
right hand of the Father. 

We must back to the New Testament as our only 
and sufficient and supreme authority. Loyalty to 
Christ and loyalty to the New Testament are the same 
thing — as loyalty to the nation and the nation's flag, 
though something much higher. We can know abso- 
lutely nothing of him historically, and can have no 
word whatever from him, except through the New 
Testament, directly or indirectly. We must get back 
to the book, before we can get back to the Christ of the 
book — the Scriptures. They are they which testify of 
him, and "are written, that ye might believe that Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye 
might have life through his name." Christ's own final 
word of conquest was his thrice repeated: "It is 
written." And the written law is our supreme guide 
concerning the ordinances as well as other momentous 
questions. We make no issue with our Lord, but gladly 
follow where he leads. 

WHAT I SAID AND WHAT CHRIST SAID. 

Under the title, "What I Said and What Christ 
Said," George McDonald gave the world the follow- 
ing strong and beautiful poem. It concerns our v/ork- 
ing where the Lord will have us work, and illustrates 



172 The Memorial Supper. 

the same great principle here contended for — the su- 
premacy of our Lord's will and word. This may be 
emphasized a thousand ways, and ever with the same 
result. In keeping the law of the Lord there is great 
reward. 

I said, "Let me walk in the field," 

He said, "No, walk in the town"; 
I said, "There are no flowers there." 

He said, "No flowers, but a crown." 

I said, "But the air is thick. 

And fogs are veiling the sun"; 
And He said, "But souls are sick, 

And souls in the dark undone." 

I said, "But the skies are black, 

There is nothing but noise and din"; 
And He wept as He sent me back, — 
"There is more," He said. "There is sin." 

I said, "I shall miss the light 

And friends will miss me, they say"; 

And He answered, "Choose to-night. 
If I am to miss you, or they." 

I pleaded for time to be given. 

He said, "Is it hard to decide? 
It will not seem hard in heaven 

To have followed the steps of your Guide." 

I cast one look at the fields, 

And set my face to the town; 
He said, "My child, do you yield, 

Will you give up the flowers for the crown?" 

Then into His hand went mine. 

And into my heart came He, 
And I walked in a light divine. 

The paths I had feared to see. 

Whatever is our light and guide in one duty, is our 
light and guide in all the ways of life. The calling of 



The Memorial and Its Restriction. 173 

his voice, whatever be the issue, is along the highway 
to glory. The great principle is ever the same. Loy- 
alty to the voice of the King is the word of universal 
conquest for us and him. And his voice for us is 
found in his written word, as that word may be read, 
and lodged in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 

A man needs to have a safe and supreme authority 
outside himself, the one court of his own highest ap- 
peal in the settlement of questions concerning the faith 
and the church and its ordinances and his own church 
relation and life. Christian consciousness is a glorious 
witness within its own sphere of Christian experience. 
But Christian consciousness itself needs an arbiter, 
and must be ever tested and ruled by the one Su- 
preme standard, the unerring Word of the living 
God. 

In the great Union Station at St. Louis there is a 
regulator, insignificant in size, but of easy access, al- 
most in the very path of those who go that way. Lit- 
erally crowds turn aside to test their timepieces, and 
the regulator does nothing except keep time and serve 
as a common standard for all. One day, while I stood 
there with my timepiece in hand, a man of mighty 
physique and in overalls came to my side and opened 
his watch. He was seen to place his finger on its sec- 
ond hand to stop its running. In answer to my in- 
quiry why he did that, he said, "Oh, sir, I must have 
my watch right even to the second." He then ex- 
plained that he was engineer on one of those great 
western passenger engines, and was about ready to 



174 The Memorial Supper. 

start his train, having in his hands the Hves of men 
and women and children, and had just left his cab to 
test his watch. 

Let this man be our teacher. It is all very well to 
talk of the conscience and the consciousness, but these 
must be brought to the regulator again and again, to 
see how they keep time with the word of God. Oh, 
reader, it is of infinite importance that we '^have our 
watch right, even to the second." Great and mighty 
issues are at stake with us. The New Testament is our 
highest authority, and loyalty to the New Testament is 
our highest life. Here Christ speaks his saving word ; 
here Christ gives us the pattern for his churches and 
commandment for his ordinances ; here Christ sets be- 
fore us an open door for lofty conduct, and a great 
mission in life; here Christ appeals to our love and 
loyalty, and opens the way to the crown and the coro- 
nation. 




Christ Dying b^or Ottr Sins. 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE MEMORIAL SIGNET SET IN RED. 



T 



HE Lord's Supper is the Memorial Signet of 
his death for sin. There is first the red of 
the wine, then the deeper red of the blood — 
the blood shed for the expiation of the sin- 
ner's sin. What to do with sin is almost the greatest 
question in God's moral government — if comparison 
can be made where all things are great. That prob- 
lem was solved in the economy of grace, and the ques- 
tion had its practical and sufficient answer when John 
introduced Jesus of Nazareth in those simple and yet 
profound words : "Behold the Lamb of God, that tak- 
eth away the sin of the world." 

That was God's own answer to his judgment against 
sin, and the gracious provision has never failed in its 
satisfaction for the double efficiency of saving from 
wrath and making clean in the cleansing of the blood. 
This is the wondrous message repeated over and over 
again in the Memorial Signet set in red. 

There is a fountain filled with blood, 

Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 

Lose all their guilty stains. 

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood 

Shall never lose its power. 
Till all the ransomed church of God, 

Be saved to sin no more. 



176 The Memorial Supper. 

This is not fancy, but fact — a noble statement of 
glorious reality in the history of God's dealing with 
man, in his sinful and lost condition. Here we come 
to deal with the great fact and doctrine and efficacy 
of the atonement for sin, as set out in the Lord's 
Supper, in wonderful beauty and simplicity and pathos. 
Here in these emblems we can read the words written 
in red, crucifixion, substitution, propitiation, appropri- 
ation — mighty words, these, standing for great reali- 
ties, profound beyond the furthermost reach of what 
man can think. For "as it is written, eye hath not seen, 
or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man, the things which God hath prepared for those 
who love him. But God hath revealed them unto us 
by his Spirit," and "commendeth his love toward us, 
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we 
shall be saved from wrath through him." 

IN THE CRIMSON OF THE CROSS. 

The Scriptures are the interpretation for us, both of 
the Supper and of the things which the Supper stands 
for. The Savior has not told us, and we have no other 
means of knowing, why he chose the red fruit of the 
vine, in which to set the symbol of his death for sin. 
He left us two pictures which remain to this day. In 
baptism he used water as the element and immersion 
as the form, a vivid and beautiful picture of resurrec- 
tion from the dead. In the Supper, he used bread and 
wine as the elements, with breaking and pouring out. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 177 

with eating and drinking as the form — a picture of his 
death for sin, and of his own new Hfe in its life-giving 
power. "For if, when we were enemies, we were rec- 
onciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, 
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life/* 

His blood as shed on the cross was the purchase 
price of human redemption, and in him as the risen 
Christ, and in his new resurrection-life there is fullness 
of salvation. And the wonderful story is told with 
frequent repetition in the bread and wine. But for 
the meaning of this picture in the Lord's Supper, as we 
look upon it from time to time, we must turn to the 
Word of God. There is the picture, and back of the 
picture there is the wonderful original, and even back 
of the original there is the question of its deep signifi- 
cance. There is the Supper, and back of the Supper 
there is the cross, and back of the cross there is its 
"meaning and message" for the world. Take the fol- 
lowing Scriptures as showing the picture, the original 
and its meaning all in one: 

And the blood shall be for a token upon the houses where 
you are: and when I see the blood I will pass over you. And 
this day shall be unto you for a memorial (Ex. 12: 13, 14). 
. . . Christ our passover is sacrificed for us ( 1 Cor. 5:7). 
. . . This is my body which is broken for you. . . . This 
cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for 
you. . . . Shed for many for the remission of sin. ... Ye 
were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . but with 
the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish 
and without spot (1 Peter 1: 19). . . . These are they 
who have washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7: 14). . . . Though your sins 
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1: 18). 
12 



178 The Memorial Supper. 

The question, "What mean ye by this service?" has 
no answer and cannot have an answer outside the 
Word of God. The Scriptures are our only possible 
guide to interpret the Lord's Supper, and to give us 
the meaning of the things which that ordinance stands 
for in the Christian system. Possibly you have some- 
times stood in an art gallery with guidebook in hand, 
before one of the great master pictures of the world, 
alternately your eyes on the guidebook and then on 
the picture. You first admire the work of the artist, 
then the several elements of the picture get into your 
soul with wonderful charm and power, and then the 
meaning of it all is unfolded to you and moves your 
soul with passions akin to those that live in the picture. 

Something like this comes to us, as, with Bible in 
hand, we come before this great picture of the world's 
mightiest tragedy. And, without the guidebook, we 
cannot know the meaning of the Supper, or the mean- 
ing of the cross. It is impossible to say this with too 
much emphasis or to urge it too earnestly as our one 
standard of doctrine and practice. We do not suffi- 
ciently keep in mind how absolutely dependent we are 
on the Bible for an answer to the most momentous 
questions which concern us here and hereafter. 

With the Bible closed or set aside, we know abso- 
lutely nothing, and cannot possibly know anything of 
the future life. There are, of course, the longings of 
the human heart after immortality, yet these longings, 
even in their loftiest aspiration and furthermost reach, 
have found no answer. But Christ has brought life 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 179 

and immortality to light in the Gospel, as the satis- 
faction and joy for those who die in the Lord. 

So, likewise, it is about many of the greatest and 
gravest questions — among them, the question of atone- 
ment for sin by the death of the Son of God on the 
cross, and man's redemption through faith in his 
blood. It is not an issue between the Bible and some 
other authority, but we are shut up to the Word of 
God; it is the Bible or nothing. The Bible and the 
Bible alone has the authoritative word — and indeed the 
only word, for the meaning of the cross in its necessity 
and far-reaching power to save men — to bring the 
sinner home to God, forgiven and justified and glori- 
fied in his presence for evermore. 

man's need and god's provision. 

This is the basal fact in the Lord's Supper — the 
ever-recurring need of man, and the ever-returning 
provision of God. It is true that man, unaided by the 
Word of God, knows his need and his sin in some 
degree, feels in his inmost being that his heart is not 
right and that his life has gone wrong. The sense 
of sin, of need and dependence upon some thing or 
some being outside himself, is perhaps the deepest 
sense of the human heart. In many, many ways he has 
given expression of this, and sought his relief at a 
thousand altars with their altar fires, but all in vain. 

But even here, in this most elementary question, the 
Bible is necessary to interpret the man to himself. It 
is a light upon his condition, explains himself to him- 



i8o The Memorial Supper. 

self, at least in part, and shows him the darkness of 
his own heart, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 
That cry of the Psalmist, "Oh, lead me to the rock 
that is higher than I," is the universal cry of the 
universal human heart. It is the cry for help, for 
deliverance, and a cry for some being outside and 
above himself. But that cry was never heard, is not 
heard now, except as God answers it with the won- 
drous things written in the blessed book. And his 
one answer to that cry, given before the book was 
written, and recorded there as the one answer for all 
succeeding ages, and as universal as the cry, is that 
wonderful word — "God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but might have everlasting life." 

The Bible, in its wide range of history and doc- 
trine, gives, everywhere, a painful picture of man's 
need, but, on the other hand, never fails to meet 
the condition, with God's ample provision. The fol- 
lowing scriptures are sample utterances, and leave 
no question either as to man's desperate condition or 
the fullness and adequacy of God's provision : 

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately 
wicked. . . . There is none righteous, no, not one. . . . 
There is no fear of God before their eyes ... for all have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God. . . . Dead in 
trespasses and sins. . . . Without Christ, having no hope, 
and without God in the world. 

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish but have eternal life. . . . He that 
believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not 
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. i8i 

name of the only begotten Son of God. ... It pleased God 
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 
. . . Christ is all and in all. ... In whom we have 
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. 
. . . Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous, 
and sanctification and redemption. 

Man needed, and every man needs, spiritual life 
from spiritual death, needs remission of his sin and 
pardon from his guilt, needs cleansing from the de- 
filement of sin, needs justifying, so as to be free and to 
appear no more as a sinner, needs to be taken back 
into God's favor and family, and made fit associate 
in the palace of the King, and to be kept in the power 
that avails unto the end. 

All this is in the provision which God has made for 
man's need. This is the salvation of our God ; and he 
is the God of our salvation. For "the blood of his 
Son, Jesus Christ, cleanseth us from all sin," and "we 
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the 
righteous," and "all that believe are justified from all 
things from which they could not be justified by the 
law of Moses," nor from any device possible to man. 
But God has fully met it all in his provision, and his 
provision is in the death of his Son as of a Lamb slain 
from before the foundation of the world. And the 
signet of that death and of that provision, is set before 
us in the red wine and broken bread of the Memorial 
Supper. 

IN THE death of HIS SON FOR SIN. 

We speak now of the crucifixion of our Lord only 
as a fact, to give it recognition and emphasis among 



1 82 The Memorial Supper. 

other facts of human history; for example, like the 
tragic death of Julius Caesar, like the rise and fall of 
the Roman Empire, like the triumph of Wellington 
and the defeat of Napoleon, like the discovery of 
America and the founding of the Western republic. 
Incomparably above all these, and yet ranking with 
them as a real event among the things done by men, 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, was yet 
executed by crucifixion, on a hill called Calvary, just 
outside the gates of the Holy City. 

The Lord's Supper commemorates this fact of cruci- 
fixion — a signet of death, and of death by violence. 
This bread is my body broken — this cup is my blood 
shed. Broken and shed — these words are an echo from 
Calvary of his dying groans ; they put before our eyes 
again his mangled form on the cross, with its bleeding 
wounds and the blood running freely down. And these 
words, so full of historic account, so full, too, of mo- 
mentous significance, are repeated over and over again 
with every fresh observance of the ordinance. And 
by this signet set in red, his dying on Calvary is kept 
ever fresh in memory, and in this ordinance, as a liv- 
ing picture ever before the world, he is crucified afresh 
before our eyes. 

The crucifixion of Jesus, as a fact, holds a central 
place in human history. All other events came con- 
verging to the cross, and radiated thence as a center. 
His incarnation in the virgin birth had gone before, 
and had its consummation in the cross ; his resurrec- 
tion came after, undoing the work of the cross as to 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 183 

its physical aspect, but confirming its work as to its 
spiritual meaning and deeper significance. 

The cross forthwith became the one consuming 
theme of the preachers' preaching, overshadowing the 
incarnation almost completely, and even the resurrec- 
tion, in a measure. Those early preachers, who knew 
whereof they spake, and knew, for themselves, by 
experience, the conquering power of his resurrection, 
seemed set to have all men know that Jesus died, that 
he died on the cross — a death full of shame and ig- 
nominy, as viewed by the world, but full of renown, 
and even glory, as viewed by themselves. So the 
record abundantly shows: 

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you 
by miracles and wonders and si^s, which God did by him 
in the midst of you as you yourselves know; him being de- 
livered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and 
slain. 

We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling- 
block and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which 
are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God 
and the wisdom of God. . . . Declaring unto you the testi- 
mony of God, I determine not to know anything among you, 
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. . . . God forbid that 
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. 

These words were spoken by Peter, who walked 
with our Lord to the end and saw him crucified, and 
by Paul, who while bent on his mission of persecu- 
tion met the risen Lord, and experienced his saving 
power. The language is significant, and creates the 
presumption and even certainty that the crucifixion 



184 The Memorial Supper. 

was something infinitely more than an incident in the 
affairs of men. Jesus had previously declared: "And 
I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me: this 
spake he signifying by what death he should die," and 
also what attractive power the crucified Christ should 
have over the hearts of men. His word of prophecy 
came true, both as to the manner of his dying, and as 
to the wonderful power his death should have to move 
men, to draw men, to save and transform men. 

THE MORAL POWER OF THE CROSS. 

There is no doubt, there is not even room to ques- 
tion the moral power of the cross. We simply recog- 
nize this now as a fact without attempting an ex- 
planation. And yet, its moral power is manifestly 
consequent upon some deeper, extraordinary meaning, 
which it had and which gives it to this day a mighty 
force over the hearts of men. I recall two instances. 
In one case, where a house of worship was being re- 
paired, we had placed in a window a picture of John 
baptizing the Savior in the Jordan. A workman, un- 
trained and uncultivated, leaving his work for the 
moment, came and stood by my side as we looked on 
the picture. Neither spoke for some moments. Pres- 
ently the workman turned, and with tenderness and 
even pathos, said: "No wonder John said he was not 
worthy to stoop down and unloose his shoes." That 
was a high tribute to the art of the artist, but surely 
it must have meant something for the subject of the 
picture. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 185 

The other case was different. He, too, was a man 
without schooling, and besides, an ungodly man. He 
was telling of his visit to an art gallery, and how he 
came, unexpectedly, upon a painting of the crucifixion 
of Jesus. 'It almost convulsed me," he said ; "I could 
not keep from weeping, and the tears ran down my 
face." There is nothing unusual about these two 
cases, but they illustrate what has taken place so often 
through the years as to be a common thing. 

Truly, the cross has its moral power; but just as 
truly has also a significance and force and efficacy far, 
far beyond this. Its power to break or melt human 
hearts is not its efficacy for saving, nor is pathos in 
its presence to be mistaken for salvation. Its moral 
power is inadequate, and comes far short of that power 
by which one is crucified unto the world and the 
world is crucified unto him. For herein Christ is the 
Mighty to save, and saves "unto the uttermost all who 
come unto God through him." There is something 
deeper than dying on the cross, awful and tragic as 
that was. 

MADE HIM A SIN-OFFERING FOR US. 

The Lord's Supper stands for the fact of substitu- 
tion — his substitution and death for the sinner. "This 
is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for 
you — shed for many for the remission of sins." Christ's 
death was substitution, vicarious and voluntary. The 
meaning of the signet set in red, is his death, and the 
meaning of his death is his substitution as a sin offer- 



1 86 The Memorial Supper, 

ing for us. Back of the fact of his death as its ex- 
planation, is the further fact of his dying on account 
of the sin of others, as having taken their law-place 
and become their sin bearer. In no sense did he be- 
come himself a sinner, but he became the sinner's sub- 
stitute, and, as Jesus Christ the righteous, died in the 
sinner's place and then became the believer's surety. 

It is very important to have a right conception of 
the character of Jesus of Nazareth as the sinner's 
stitute, and, as Jesus Christ the righteous, died in the 
tween the human and the divine in his person. He was 
"born of a woman, and made under the law that he 
might redeem them that are under the law." As the 
Lamb of God he was "without spot or blemish." 
Though made a sin offering, he himself "knew no 
sin" in his own character and life. Though "tempted 
like as we are in all points, yet without sin," both in 
the eyes of God and of men, whether friend or foe. He 
died "the just for the unjust." The Scriptures every- 
where recognize and assert this tremendous fact of 
substitution in God's plan for human redemption. 

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures . . . 
was buried and rose again the third day according to the 
Scriptures . . . was delivered for our offenses and was 
raised again for our justification. . . . Christ also suffered 
for us . . . who his own self bare our sins in his own body 
on the tree. . . . Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the 
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being 
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. . . . 
Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows. . . . 
he was wounded for our transgression; he was bruised for 
our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; 
and with his stripes we are healed. . . . Surely the Lord 
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 187 

This is remarkable language, and states the fact 
and doctrine of substitution as plainly taught in God's 
\Vord. Without the Bible we can know nothing of it ; 
but having the Bible, and finding it full of this great 
truth, we accept its word in the fullness of meaning. 
Christ died — died for sin — but not the sin of himself 
for he knew no sin — ^but for the sin of others — as the 
sinner's substitute, in every way adequate to bear away 
the sin of the world. 

A SACRIFICE, VICARIOUS AND VOLUNTARY. 

He died not only as Jesus of Nazareth, but as the 
Christ — the anointed of the Lord, the Lamb set apart 
as the passover Lamb and slain for the world's re- 
demption. The three words — sacrificial, vicarious, vol- 
untary — describe three essential elements in his death. 
The two words, vicarious and voluntary, like the words 
substitute and substitution, are not found in the Bible, 
but the ideas for which they stand, as historical facts 
and doctrines in the Christian system, abound in its 
pages — sometimes in direct statement, sometimes in 
symbols, sometimes in the simple movement of events, 
w^ith never once a contrary voice. To leave them out 
the Scriptures must needs be rewritten and history 
re wrought. To eliminate them would leave the Bible 
mangled, knifed unto death. It would, indeed, be the 
removal of the very heart purpose of the Bible. 

And these three things — sacrifice, vicarious and vol- 
untary — are the very things told over and over again 
in the Lord's Memorial Supper, that Christ died as a 



i88 The Memorial Supper. 

voluntary substitute for sinners, and, in his death, 
made sacrificial atonement for sin. The Supper is not 
a sacrifice in any sense or by any means, but is a 
wonderful symbol of the one great sacrifice for sin in 
the death of the Son of God. 

A story is told of an incident in a Federal Cemetery. 
A man was found caring for a grave, with tenderness 
and emotion. To the several questions, Is your son 
buried here ? Your brother ? Any relation ? The man 
answered. No. Then explained how, in a distant State, 
during the war, he came under the draft, had no 
money to purchase a substitute, with a large family 
dependent on him for support. A young man had 
volunteered as his substitute, went in his place, and 
had fallen in battle. And, finishing his story, with 
much emotion he stooped down and placed on the 
young man's grave a plain marker bearing the in- 
scription: *'He died for me." 

Oh, something like this we find in the Holy Me- 
morial — ^yes, something, but infinitely more. Let it be 
said, with all frankness and simple-hearted earnestness, 
that if Christ did not die for our sins and rise again 
from the dead for our justification, then we might as 
well — nay, even better, for it will relieve the delusion 
— do away with the two great ordinances. Baptism 
and the Supper ; do away with the Scriptures ; do away 
with all our hopes. But even then our sins, with their 
inner anguish and impending doom, will remain, and 
there will be no Gospel of pardon and deliverance to 
offer, with no balm in Gilead and no physician there. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 189 

But the facts of history and of redemption cannot 
be undone or altered, or their nature and efficacy con- 
travened. The ordinances remain, the Bible remains, 
redemption remains, and our hopes remain. 

I will sing of my Redeemer, 

And his wondrous love to me; 
On the cruel cross he suffered, 

From the curse to set me free. 

I will tell the wondrous story, 

How my lost estate to save. 
In his boundless love and mercy, 

He the ransom freely gave. 

Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer, 
With his blood he purchased me. 

On the cross he sealed my pardon. 
Paid the debt and set me free. 

"In due time Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely 
for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure 
for a good man some would even dare to die. But 
God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

WORKING OUT HIS PLAN AND PURPOSE. 

The cross was not an accident in human history ; the 
crucifixion was not an unforeseen end of our Savior's 
life. It was the working out of God's plan and pur- 
pose in Christ Jesus. True, Christ was under the ter- 
rible necessity of dying, but it was a self-imposed ne- 
cessity of his own choosing. Speaking absolutely, 
there was no need on God's part for giving his Son 
or for saving man, or on Christ's part for dying. Man, 



190 The Memorial Supper. 

in his sin and sinning and sinfulness, had forfeited 
all. But when God undertook man's redemption, then 
some things became necessary and Christ met these 
necessities in his own voluntary sacrifice for sin. In 
saving man, there must be atonement for sin; and 
Christ's dying was necessary for such atonement. 

Having taken the sinner's law-place, he came to the 
cross to meet the sinner's condemnation, to pay the 
penalty of the sinner's guilt, to offer his death in vol- 
untary substitution for the sinner's death — suffering 
unto death, the just for the unjust, that he might 
bring us to God. Hence his own great question, 
in part explaining and in a sense justifying his dying 
on the cross : "Ought not Christ to have suffered these 
things, and to enter into his glory?" Having under- 
taken the high task of redemption, it was his choice 
and purpose and plan to finish the work; and having 
finished, it was his of right and joyous consummation 
to return to the glory which he had with the Father 
before the world began. 

It is true, also, that men put him to death; with 
violent hands and more violent hearts, and in the full 
exercise of their own supreme choice, they crucified 
him. Men willed it, and it was done. The will of man 
was at high tide that day. Unbridled, unrestrained, in 
the fullness of responsibility and the consummation of 
his own guilt, man brought the Son of God to death. 
In their wild cry, "Away with him, away with him, 
crucify him," they made disposition of Christ Jesus, 
the Savior of the world. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 191 

And yet, mark it, he committed himself to men, 
committed himself to their violence, and to the death 
that would surely follow. And but for that self-com- 
mittal, that voluntary self-surrender, they could have 
done nothing. That is the meaning of his sublime and 
startling announcement to the high priest: "Hereafter 
ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand 
of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." And 
that other word to the astonished governor of the 
province, who had him on trial : "Thou couldest have 
no power at all against me, except it were given thee 
from above; therefore, he that delivered me unto thee 
hath the greater sin." And still, that other and even 
more lofty word, spoken to his disciple in the hour of 
his arrest: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to 
my Father, and he shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of angels?" But how then shall the 
Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must he? In spite 
of men doing their work, things were moving on a 
well-laid plan and toward ultimate triumph of his pur- 
pose to save. What visions his words opened to us! 
The angels were marshaled to do his bidding. By his 
silence the armies of heaven await in abeyance; and, 
by his silence, too, the wickedness of men works out 
the purposes of God, bringing guilt to themselves and 
redemption to the world. 

CHRIST THE PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS. 

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the re- 
mission of sins . . . that he might be just, and the justi- 



192 The Memorial Supper. 

fier of him which believeth in Jesus. . . . We have an Ad- 
vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he 
is the propitiation for our sins. . . . Herein is love, not 
that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to 
be the propitiation for our sins." 

These Scriptures show the tremendous fact, that 
Christ's dying on the cross, in its purpose and merit 
and efficacy, reached within the heavens and had a 
bearing Godward as well as manward. The words 
atonement, reconciliation and propitiation, mean, prac- 
tically, the same thing, and emphasize Christ's death 
in its eifect with God, when presented in man's behalf. 
His death was not only vicarious and voluntary, but 
also a sacrifice for sin. No view of his death is com- 
plete that does not give distinctness and emphasis to its 
sacrificial character. Christ himself was the world's 
sin-bearer, and in his death as a sin-offering, made 
atonement for sin — a sacrificial offering to satisfy the 
law's demand against man on account of his sin. 

The Lord's Supper recognizes this atonement for 
sin as a fact, and testifies to the great transaction in 
the holiest place of all, wherein God, in view of the 
cross, pardons, justifies, and even adopts into his fam- 
ily those who believe in Jesus. One word in the ordi- 
nance tells the wonderful story, puts aside the veil 
and gives us a vision within and beyond. That one 
word is remission — the remission of sin. "This is my 
blood shed for many for the remission of sins." This 
remission of sins is something which God alone can 
do; something which is done for man as the sinner; 
something in which God disposes of man's sin and 



The Memorial Signet Set ix Red. 193 

holds it against him no more forever; a remission of 
man's sin on God's part because of the shedding of 
that blood which is symbolized in the ^Memorial Signet 
Set in Red. It is manifest that the death of Christ, in 
the fullness of its meaning, has a twofold aspect — the 
one manward and the other Godward. It is not easy 
always to distinguish between these, though we may 
separate them in thought for emphasis. Looking man- 
ward, it is Christ crucified, suffering the just for the 
unjust that he might bring us to God; looking God- 
ward, it is Christ crucified as the Lamb of God, made 
a sin offering for us that w^e might be made the right- 
eousness of God in him. As viewed by man, his death 
is foolishness and a stumbling-block; but as viewed 
from the heavenly side and in those who are saved, 
the wisdom of God and the power of God. With man, 
the cross of Christ, in its effects, means expiation, but 
with God it means propitiation. Looking Godward, 
we magnify its atoning merit ; looking manward, we 
rejoice in its cleansing power. Herein is remission and 
redemption. 

THE ATONEMENT THROUGH HIS BLOOD. 

Christ holds the threefold office of Prophet, Priest, 
and King. As our Great High Priest, he must have 
"somewhat to offer." That ''somewhat" he himself 
provided in dying on Calvary, and now he is both 
Priest and offering; and ministers before the altar 
with his own bleeding sacrifice. There in the great 
realities, he says the same thing which he says here in 



194 The Memorial Supper. 

the figure and symbol : 'This is my body broken. This 
is my blood shed for the remission of sins." This, the 
Word of God makes clear beyond all peradventure 
and with great force: 

But Christ being come a high priest ... is not entered 
into the holy place made with hands which is the figure of 
the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence 
of God for us ... to put away sin by the sacrifice of him- 
self . . . and for this cause he is the mediator that by 
means of death for the redemption of the transgressions. . . . 
By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, 
having obtained eternal redemption for us; ... much more 
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit of- 
fered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience; 
. . . for it pleased the Father that in him should all 
fullness dwell; and making peace through the blood of his 
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, 
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. 

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
many. ... In whom we have redemption through 
his blood, even the forgiveness of sin." Christ "en- 
tered the Holy place" — presented his blood as the 
blood of atonement for sin — "obtained eternal redemp- 
tion for us" — and henceforth became Redeemer and 
Savior for all who believe in him. And his blood has 
cleansing power with man and secures forgiveness 
with God. This is the whole transaction in man's re- 
demption, as it took place between God and Christ 
in man's behalf. It is wonderful and profound beyond 
human devising or even comprehension. But yet is a 
fact made known in the Gospel, very efficacious in 
saving power, and brings joy unspeakable and full 
of glory. 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 195 

necessary for one, sufficient for all. 

There is no salvation for man, even one man, ex- 
cept through the atonement of Christ; no forgiveness 
with God, and no cleansing from sin, except through 
the blood which was shed on the cross. Herein is 
fullness of salvation, but apart from this utter de- 
spair. Think of a Bible with no record of blood; 
think of a high priest without blood to offer ; think of 
an atonement with no blood for propitiation toward 
God or expiation for man; think of coming to the 
mercy seat with no sin-offering in blood — only to meet 
these terrible words: ^'Without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission." There is absolutely no hope 
for the world except in the fountain open in the house 
of David for sin and uncleanness. But therein is full- 
ness of remission and cleansing. 

The question of limited or unlimited atonement held 
high place in the discussions of former years — possi- 
bly not so much so now, but in all the schools of con- 
flicting thought no one has ever put a limit on either 
the merit or the suMciency of Christ's work. His 
atonement is universal, at least in its sufficiency — suf- 
ficient for the whole world, should the whole world 
respond to his call and turn unto him for life. For in 
him there is life and life abundantly. 

Through his blood of atonement as the propitiation 
for our sins, God was reconciled, and is now in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself. Hence, the Gospel 
IS the ministry of reconciliation — heaven's answer to 



196 The Memorial Supper. 

the plea which the cross makes in man's behalf. 
Hence, too, the wicked may forsake his way and 
should, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, "and 
return unto the Lord who will have mercy upon him, 
and to our God who will abundantly pardon." And 
hence, again, when we were enemies, we were recon- 
ciled to God by the death of his Son, and much more 
being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. "And 
not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the 
atonement." 

AVAILABLE THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD. 

In the presence of these august and overpowering 
realities of redemption, no attempt has been made to 
explain either God's method or what took place in 
heaven when Christ died on the cross. Nothing has 
been written in the interest of any theory of the atone- 
ment. To be very frank, I care little for the theory so 
far as it relates to God, whether the theory of creation 
or of the inspiration of the Scriptures or of the atone- 
ment. There is no need to theorize concerning God 
and what he does, whether in nature or providence or 
grace. 

The great facts are sufficient and worthy of accepta- 
tion : ( I ) that God is back of the universe as its Crea- 
tor; and (2) back of the Bible as its author speaking 
through men; and (3) back of the atonement as hav-^ 
ing devised and executed and made effective the re- 
demptive scheme. And to this end God sent his Son 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 197 

into the world to save the world through the shedding 
of blood. The mind and heart can well be at rest in 
leaving with him the how and the why of his plan and 
of his doing. Wonders there are, indeed, and far be- 
yond the comprehension of the human mind, but even 
in these wonders we may stand with unbroken and un- 
clouded faith in God, amazed most of all at his love to 
usward in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Well might the sun in darkness hide, 

And shut his glories in, 
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died 

For man, the creature's sin. 

Thus might I hide my blushing face. 

While his dear cross appears; 
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness. 

And melt mine eyes to tears. 

And the wonders of redemption go on to completion, 
for God who hath begun a good work in us, will per- 
form it unto the day of Jesus Christ. "For whom he 
did foreknow he did also predestinate to be conformed 
to the image of his Son; and whom he did predes- 
tinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them 
he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also 
glorified." This is the crowning wonder and work of 
grace, but is grounded in the facts of redemption. 

In the discussion of Christ's work as symbolized in 
the Memorial Supper, we have thus far considered: 
(i) the fact of his death on the cross; (2) the fact 
of his voluntary substitution in dying for our sins ; 
(3) the fact of propitiation with God in obtaining 



198 The Memorial Supper. 

eternal redemption through atonement in his blood. 
We come, now, to the fourth great fact in this series, 
also symbolized in the Supper, viz., the appropriation 
and partaking on man's part of Christ's atonement 
through faith in him. 

This may be called, for convenience, the human side 
of the redemptive work — what man will do with it and 
how it may become his in its fullness and richness. 
"The well is deep, and nothing to draw with," thought 
the woman of Samaria, and so it is here as to the deep- 
ness, and yet Christ and his redemption and high right- 
eousness and all the fullness of salvation are available 
through faith in his blood. 

This faith, which procures so much, is a personal 
faith in a personal Savior, an individual act of indi- 
vidual appropriation of Christ with his redemption and 
atonement. This faith receives Christ for all he is, 
and has, and has done, and is the personal commit- 
ment of one's self in his sins and helplessness. This 
faith as a personal trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and 
Lord, presupposes, of course, conviction for sin, re- 
pentance toward God, and the work of the Holy Spirit. 
This faith puts the believer in union with Christ, makes 
him share in Christ's death and righteousness, secures 
his pardon and justification, and brings him into the 
very family of God, as God's child through faith in 
Jesus Christ. 

I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he 
is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against 
that day. ... He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 199 

ing life. ... He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is 
born of God. . . . Therefore being justified by faith we have 
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . Be- 
hold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us 
that we should be called the sons of God. 

Hence, the Apostle's great statement of his experi- 
ence of grace: "I am crucified with Christ: neverthe- 
less I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the 
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith 
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself 
for me." These words show us the fact, the doctrine 
and the experience of atonement all in one, and 
through faith in the crucified Christ. 

All this has a strong and beautiful symbol in the 
Lord's Supper, as seen in partaking of the elements. 
It is not enough to have the emblems, or to have them 
broken and poured out, or to be witnesses in their 
presence. The bread must be eaten and the wine must 
be drunk by each one for himself in token of his per- 
sonal relation to Christ. In baptism, the companion 
ordinance, water is the essential element, and immer- 
sion the essential form— essential to complete the fig- 
ure of burial and resurrection. In the Lord's Supper, 
bread and wine are the essential emblems, while eat- 
ing and drinking are the essential form— essential to 
complete the symbol of (i) union with Christ; (2) life 
in Christ; (3) support by Christ; (4) dependence on 
Christ, as we see also illustrated with the vine and its 
branches, and with the human body and its life in 
eating and drinking. 

Almost, perhaps altogether, the boldest figure of 



200 The Memorial Supper. 

speech ever used by our Lord, is found In the simple 
but strong words concerning himself: 

Verily, verily, I say unto you: Except ye eat the flesh of 
the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh 
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth 
my flesh, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and J in 
him. 

This language does not refer to the Lord's Supper, 
but is itself a figure of speech, and teaches, in figure, 
precisely the same great lesson as is taught in the Sup- 
per, viz., that we must have Christ and his blood and 
life in him. Here, however, our Lord teaches in a figure 
of word, while in the Supper he uses the emblems of 
bread and wine with the symbol of eating and drink- 
ing as the form of its setting. In both cases, the les- 
sons are the same, viz., Christ is to the spiritual life all 
that eating and drinking are to the physical Hfe, and 
there is fullness of salvation through faith's appropria- 
tion of him in his work of atonement ; but apart from 
him there is no life or salvation. 

LIFE IN CHRIST^ LIFE FOR CHRIST. 

He is our life, and we live in him ; have redemption 
and remission in him; have righteousness and sancti- 
fication in him, even the righteousness of God which 
is by faith ; he is our all in all, and we are complete in 
him. He holds the place of command in our heart-life 
for love and loyalty, and in all outer life for obedience 



The Memorial Signet Set in Red. 201 

and service. This is due him as Savior and Redeemer 
and King and Lord. 

A man once, convicted of crime, was imprisoned for 
Hfe. After his serving for years in prison, as the story 
goes, during which time his devoted attorney never 
despaired of his innocence or ceased efforts in his be- 
half, and succeeded in finding new evidence and se- 
cured the prisoner's deliverance. When they met out 
in the free, open air, the prisoner, with an earnest grasp 
of the hand, and with tears running on the face, said : 
*Tf you ever want a man to die for you, send for me." 
What shall the believer say in his deliverance, to his 
Savior and Lord, for all that has been done in his 
behalf? There is no call to die for Christ — at least in 
our place and time. But there is a call for that other, 
and possibly more trying thing, viz., to live for Christ. 
Never was a life for Christ worth more than now. 
This is the supreme call of the day — loyalty in life, 
loyalty in the things which Christ commanded and in 
the service which his cause requires. 

He died for us on the cross, and now lives for us 
and intercedes in our behalf in the presence of the 
Father; and his blood and his word avail. We may 
live for him among men, intercede for his rightful 
reign in the hearts of men and for the furtherance of 
his kingdom. While he pleads for us with the Father, 
we plead for him with men. Whether he pleads in 
heaven at the mercy seat between the cherubim, or we 
plead on earth, the one theme and the one plea is his 
atoning blood, shed for many for the remission of sins, 



202 The Memorial Supper. 

as shown in the symbol of the Memorial Signet Set in 
Red. This is a personal matter with each one, whether 
he comes to the cross or to this service to celebrate his 
Lord's death. Each one believing for himself finds re- 
mission of sin in the shedding of blood and this be- 
comes his personal salvation and hope and joy. 

My hope is built on nothing less, 
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness, 
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
But wholly lean on Jesus' name. 

His oath, his covenant, his blood. 
Support me in the whelming flood; 
When all around my soul gives way. 
He then is all my hope and stay. 

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand 
All other ground is sinking sand. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE SEARCH LIGHT TURNED WITHIN. 

Matt. 26: 21, 22, 25: "As they did eat, Jesus said, Verily 
1 say \mto you, that one of you shall betray me. And the;- 
were exceeding sorrowful, and began everyone of them to 
say unto him. Lord, is it I? . . . And Judas which be- 
trayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?" 

Cor. 11:27, 28, 29: "Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this 
bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be 
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man ex. 
amine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink 
of that cup . . . discerning the Lord's body." 

T^"^^WO thousand years ago, nearly, this Memo- 
I rial Supper was appointed, and is here, to- 
day, for observance in the churches of Christ. 
If dated according to ordinary chronology, 
this Memorial might bear the superscription, Anno 
Domini Thirty-three, in celebration of our Lord's suf- 
fering and death. And yet, with its every recurrence 
in the churches, it is as fresh as a new morning in 
June, when the sunlight glitters on the dew, and the 
air is full of the perfume of flowers and the music of 
birds. 

Both ordinances — Baptism and the Supper — ^have 
their continuity back to their institution. They have 
had their succession through the centuries, not in the 
sense of Apostolic Succession falsely so called, nor in 
any sacerdotal sense, whatever, as connecting back 



204 The Memorial Supper. 

from one people to another, or from one administra- 
tion to another; but they simply continued as the or- 
dinances of Christ from one year to another, and 
from one century to another, through nearly two thou- 
sand years from the first until now. 

The corruption of these ordinances has been, at 
times, almost beyond description — sometimes in their 
form, sometimes in their design or purpose, sometimes 
in their administration, sometimes so as to leave them 
hardly recognized at all as the noble and beautiful or- 
dinances which the Lord gave to his churches as monu- 
ment and memorial. But notwithstanding all the 
perversion and corruption through the centuries, 
they still abide, and we have them here to-day, 
as when they first came from the hand of our Lord 
and found their place in his life and then in his 
churches. 

Baptism goes back to Pentecost, to the commission, 
to the Jordan where John baptized our Savior in the 
river ; the Lord's Supper goes back to Corinth, to the 
days immediately succeeding Pentecost, to the com- 
mission as one of the things commanded by our Lord, 
to the upper room on the night of his betrayal and pre- 
ceding, the day of his death on the cross. Our highest 
ambition, and the noblest service we can give in these 
great ceremonies, is to have and hold them just as 
they were at the first, in form, and purpose, and spirit. 
They cannot be altered in themselves, and any depart- 
ure from the original is ^ departure from the pattern 
given us, and will surely mar their beauty. In their 



The Search Light Turned Within. 205 

very nature they call for serious thoughtfulness in 
their every observance. 

NOT TOO MUCH SELF-INTROSPECTION. 

There is need, and wide scope, too, for self-exam^ 
ination when serving in these ceremonies of the Lord's 
house. "Let a man examine himself," is an injunction 
as needful now as when Paul first wrote to the mem- 
bers of the church at Corinth. And a wholesome ex- 
amination of one's self, done with thoroughness and 
honesty, is fitting and needful and helpful. A very 
excellent young woman, a devout Christian and church 
member, speaking of this book, while it was being 
written, said she would skip this chapter. But, she was 
asked. Is that wise ? "Oh," she said, "that will hit me, 
and I am afraid of myself." 

That may be the very reason why one should look 
within his own heart, and put himself under the 
search light of God's Word, and under the inspection 
of questions asked by himself. Often, the best people 
are most afraid of themselves, while others, most in 
danger, are not disturbed and have little or no mis* 
giving about themselves. 

The anxious question, "Lord, is it I?" which was 
passed among the disciples, was asked not at the Sup- 
per, but at the preceding Passover meal. Yet, it is a 
fitting question for disciples as church members, and 
as to their personal relation to Christ, and as to the 
place they honestly give him in their heart and life. 
Frequently people, and sometimes the very best of 



2o6 The Memorial Supper. 

people, are given to a morbid introspection. They find' 
nothing good in themselves, conclude themselves al- 
together "unworthy," and consequently are much dis- 
turbed about their condition. Such introspection is not 
healthy, and should be avoided, for people of this 
kind, generally speaking, have least need for concern 
as to their inner spiritual state. What these people 
need is to get out of themselves and away from them- 
selves. Their cure is a look to the hills whence cometh 
strength and help and righteousness. Thence, and 
thence only, can one be "good enough." 

Self-examination for the Lord's Supper should al- 
ways be under the test of God's Word, as the one su- 
preme standard, and should be along the lines of the 
prerequisites in which this holy ordinance is guarded. 
What these prerequisites are, has already been pointed 
out in the chapter on The Memorial and Its Restric- 
tion. They suggest for personal consideration and 
personal settlement, the questions: Am I trusting in 
Christ as the Savior of my soul and the Lord of my 
heart and life? Do I desire to obey him and honor 
him in this Memorial Supper? Have I obeyed him 
and honored him in his other great commandment — 
have I been baptized as he commanded and as he set 
me the high example? Am I a member of his church, 
holding his truth as he gave it and living a life be- 
coming such high and holy relation ? Then from these 
questions, to those questions concerning sentiment of 
heart and conduct in life, and of discerning the Lord's 
body and death. 



The Search Light Turned \ViTniN. 207 

^? 

With God's Word as guide, and with a purpose of 
honest inquiry, one cannot miss, very far, the right 
settlement of these great questions. And this is much 
better than pining for, or even having "a good feel- 
ing," or a self-satisfied condition. Self-examination is 
not productive, or even conducive, to satisfaction with 
one's self, as to what he is by virtue of himself. It is 
always safest to press the questions of God's Word 
and make everything else bend to that. 

THE FEARFUL CONDITIONS AT CORINTH. 

The Bible is faithful in its records, and unsparing 
in giving account of even its favorites and heroes. 
Many of the churches of the New Testament period 
fall far short of what a church of Jesus Christ should 
be — some in one thing, some in another. The "church 
of God at Corinth" seems to have been unfortunate 
in many things, and chief among them is the terrible 
perversion of the Lord's Supper; so much so, indeed, 
that the apostle told them plainly, almost in startling 
language, that they had made void this holy ordinance 
of their Lord. 

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of 
devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the 
table of devils. ... If any man seem to be contentious, 
we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. . . . 
When ye come together in the church, I hear that there be 
divisions among you; and I partly believe it. , . . When 
ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat 
the Lord's Supper. . . . Wherefore whosoever shall eat this 
bread and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be 



2o8 The Memorial Supper. 

guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. ... He 
that eateth and drinketh, unworthily, eateth and drinketh 
condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 

This Scripture reveals a fearful condition among 
the Corinthian disciples, and is at once a severe ar- 
raignment, and rebuke, and warning. The language 
lacks the music, and the subdued, joyous song of the 
heart, which belongs to the celebration of this holy 
Memorial. The strength and pungency of the words 
are in the power of contrast. The most distant ex- 
tremes are here set one over against the other ; the cup 
of the Lord — the cup of devils ; the Table of the Lord 
— the table of devils. These are the contrasts which 
confront us, and which show the alarming possibility 
of utter degradation for the great ordinances of the 
Lord's house. 

SUCH CONDITIONS NOT LIKELY NOW. 

These conditions were peculiar to Corinth, and these 
heart-searching words of admonition and rebuke and 
warning, were for the church in that ancient city. The 
conditions can hardly be repeated in our time, for that 
church had been gathered from those worshiping and 
sacrificing to idols, and who, in many cases, had been 
grossly immoral in the very customs and life of those 
Grecian people. 

It was an effort through the Gospel to establish a 
new custom, with the churches of God as the center of 
its life and power. And the effort was succeeding in 
remarkable way, considering the circumstances. For 



The Search Light Turned Within. 209 

it is well to remember, as a light in the darkness, that 
the apostle, in this same letter, not only wrote this 
same church many glorious things in the way of doc- 
trine, but also related to them how he had received 
this ordinance of the Lord and gave them this noble 
utterance concerning the lofty meaning of the Supper 
itself: 

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com- 
munion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, 
is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, be- 
ing many, are one bread, and one body; for we are all par- 
takers of that one bread. 

While the conditions of Corinth will not likely be 
repeated in our day, yet that church and its members 
in their dealing with the ordinance, will ever remain 
at once a warning and a source of encouragement — a 
warning as it shows the danger of departure from the 
simplicity of the ordinances, an encouragement in 
showing what grace may do in such conditions, and 
the outlook for the Gospel even when dealing with the 
worst and lowest. 

Certain great principles appear here which hold for 
all times. We do well to take these for our guidance. 
Either of the ordinances — Baptism or the Lord's Sup- 
per — may be so vitiated by conditions, that you no 
longer have the ordinance, though you may have its 
name or its semblance in form or its elements. The 
vitiating condition may be either in the absence of 
requirements, or in the presence of things not com- 
manded. Calling a ceremony baptism does not make 

14 



210 The Memorial Supper. 

it the baptism commanded by Christ ; calling a service 
the Lord's Supper does not make it the Lord's Sup- 
per. There may be even a coming together in the 
church to the Lord's Supper, but in such a way, that 
it is not to eat the Lord's Supper at all. The manner 
of its observance, the method of its observance, the 
purpose of its observance, the spirit of its observance, 
with due regard for its prerequisites — all these things 
are in the question which confronts us here. These 
principles are with us to-day in our churches, and give 
great emphasis to the need of being thoughtful and 
careful when we come to the Lord's Supper, whether 
as a church or as individual members. 

EATING AND DRINKING UNWORTHILY. 

That word, unworthily, is the cause of much dis- 
turbance to many who are of tender conscience and 
devout heart. They look within, find nothing good 
in their own sight, and fear to come to the Lord's 
Supper lest they "eat and drink unworthily," and 
bring themselves under condemnation. This concern 
and dread often afflict our best people — those who have 
least reason for such concern, and cause them to mis- 
judge themselves, and to wrongfully abstain from the 
Lord's Supper, with its privilege and blessing and re- 
sponsibility. 

They miss the meaning of the word unworthily, and 
so miss the point in the apostle's warning. He was 
speaking, in this instance, not of their inner spiritual 
condition, but of their outer action in manner and pur- 



The Search Light Turned Within. 211 

pose in the holy service. He was warning them not so 
much against unworthiness of self, as of acting un- 
worthily as to their manner and intention. 

Unworthily as a word, is an adverb, qualifying and 
describing, not condition, but action ; not character, but 
conduct; not the person himself, but his method and 
his way of doing. This, of course, is of much im- 
portance, but need not disturb those who are coming 
to the Lord's Supper in the way and purpose the Lord 
himself has prescribed. There must be discernment in 
these emblems of the Lord's body — discernment be- 
tween this holy service of symbolism and the social 
meal, and the idolatrous service to which they had 
been accustomed, and the usual family meal, and in- 
deed every other service, — then they would not be 
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and would 
not eat and drink unworthily. This is plain, and opens 
the way for those whose hearts are right and who de- 
sire to honor the Lord Jesus in following his example 
and his requirements. 

\ 

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND OBLIGATION. 

Paul's word, "Let a man examine himself," was ad- 
dressed to church members, and applies now to church 
members, and emphasizes their individual responsibil- 
ity and obligation for the Lord's Supper and its right- - 
ful observance. When one turns aside from the ordi- 
nance or fails to attend its holy observance, whether 
through sheer neglect or from a sense of unworthiness, 
he is doing violence to sacred obligations and is re- 



212 The Memorial Supper. 

DC 
sponsible for his own course and for the conduct of 
the service. 

As a matter of fact, one may be in the dilemma of 
coming to the Supper feeling unworthy, or going away 
from it in neglect of his high duty. By all means, let 
him choose the first, and come in the fear of God. If 
really he is not in spiritual condition, then let him 
seek the Lord afresh and let him come as the Lord 
commands. But do not add sin to sin, and condemna- 
tion to condemnation in neglecting this high ordinance 
of the Lord's house, and then plead unfitness and un- 
worthiness. In that fearful sifting under the Master's 
eye at the Passover meal, while each one of the twelve 
asked, "Is it I?" only Judas went away, while the 
other eleven remained. Is there any suggested paral- 
lel between that pathetic scene and what often takes 
place in the churches, when many church members 
leave while the church itself remains to observe the 
Supper? Eating and drinking unworthily, is not the 
only danger; one must meet his personal responsibil- 
ity and obligation to his Lord, and cannot escape the 
danger by simply staying away. This is really a sol- 
emn and serious phase of Christian conduct and church 
life. Partaking when you should not, can hardly be 
worse than abandonment or even absence, either wil- 
fully or through neglect. 

THE ORDINANCE OF EXACTING CHARACTER. 

It is a very serious dilemma that confronts the fol- 
lowers of Christ, and the high character of the ordi- 



The Search Light Turned Within. 213 

nance requires heart self-examination and a faithful 
turning of the search light within. It requires also a 
thoughtful manner, and faithful regard as to the one 
sole purpose to commemorate the death of the Lord 
Jesus for the sins of the world. 

As we look back through the pages over which this 
discussion has come, how great and lofty this ordinance 
appears in our eyes! It is a communing with the 
Lord. It is the Holy of holies in the Christian sys- 
tem, and the symbol of atonement for sin by our one 
great High Priest in the heavenly place. In such 
presence and in such service one may well be abashed, 
and feel out afresh in his heart for the Lord's favor 
and smile. There is every reason against neglect or 
careless manner or wrong purpose; and every reason, 
also, for diligent concern, for self-examination, for 
devout, joyous worship as we come here to celebrate 
our Lord's suffering for us and our life through his 
blood — eating of the bread and drinking of the cup, 
discerning the Lord's body and in memory of him. 

CONSIDERING CHRIST AND NOT OURSELVES. 

This is the turning place, and the point of empha- 
sis in the whole issue. One must not allow himself 
drawn away from Christ, by expending too much 
thought on either himself or on others. Here it must 
be as always — one look at self, with many, many looks 
at the Crucified One. It is his memorial, and not ours. 
The question is not so much whether we are worthy; 
but is he worthy and deserving to be honored in this 



214 The Memorial Supper. 

high service, which was chosen by him, and set aside 
by his command, and for his honor and glory? This 
is the supreme issue with us, and should settle all 
other questions. With Christ supreme in our mind 
and heart, in our service and devotion, we can hardly 
fail either in our manner or in our conception, of the 
lofty purpose of this great memorial rite. 

On the other hand, the ordinances are often ob- 
scure and beclouded by too much thought on one's self 
or on others, or on our relation to others, or as to how 
much the ordinances will give to us or do for us. This 
is especially true, frequently true in a painful sense, 
concerning the Memorial Supper. It is set for the 
glory of God in Jesus Christ, and yet all the while men 
are thinking of themselves and of others, and of what 
advantage can be had, and whether they are worthy, 
and whether they can "commune with" mother or 
father or some other kinsman. And often, in consider- 
ing others, we give Christ only a second place in our 
thoughts, and in this way dishonor him and miss the 
meaning of his ordinance. Let the heart be fixed on 
him, not on ourselves nor on others. If our kindred 
are with us at the Lord's Table, they and we are there 
on the same basis and for the same high purpose. 

SENTIMENTS BECOMING THE MEMORIAL. 

In observing this ordinance in a church of Jesus 
Christ, some things are becoming, others are out of 
place. This is plainly manifest in what appears in the 
condition at Corinth, as well as in what occurred 



The Search Light Turned Within. 215 

among the disciples in the upper room on that mem- 
orable night. For this extraordinary service we 
should cultivate extraordinary sentiment, and every- 
thing should be in keeping with its lofty meaning and 
purpose. Otherwise, we condemn ourselves and do 
dishonor to our Lord and Savior. 

For such service there should be the sentiment of 
obedience and loyalty; the sentiment of love and wor- 
ship ; the sentiment of self-surrender to him in his serv- 
ice and in devotion to his cause ; the sentiment of fel- 
lowship with God and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, 
and out of this there should be the fellowship with oth- 
ers in Christian experience and church relation. These 
sentiments should not be separated even for distinction 
and emphasis. They beautifully blend in making the 
Christian character and life. They find their center and 
their impulse in God through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

These sentiments, so rich in themselves, partaking 
so much of the heavenly, take us away from ourselves, 
and *'fix our eyes upon Jesus," who is all and in all. 
They take us away, also, from all others, except as 
we remember our oneness with them in the experience 
of grace and in our church relation. This is the basis 
of that Christian fellowship and church fellowship 
which come from that higher and more blessed fel- 
lowship with God in Jesus Christ. 

THE PASTOR AND ITS CELEBRATION. 

Here the pastor officiates — not necessarily, perhaps, 
certainly not as a priest, at all or in any sense. He 



2i6 The Memorial Supper. 

passes out the elements to the church members by the 
deacons — not necessarily by them, but by them as the 
chosen of the church for the noble and lofty service. 
The pastor and deacons are the only officials in the 
church of Jesus Christ, and it is fitting that they should 
lead the church when they come to administer in this 
exceptional ceremony. The ordinance magnifies their 
office, while they, in turn, should give character and 
dignity to the ordinance. 

This is the pastor's great moment, and he should 
guard it with zealous and even jealous care. Sermons 
on the ordinance, either in explanation or defense, 
might well be left for other occasions. A briefer serv- 
ice with the church when the holy day comes, with 
preparation going before, would seem more helpful 
and would put special emphasis upon the one great 
thing in contemplation. The service is preeminently 
worthy of all the thought and care which a pastor 
can give. Here, he and his people, in their church re- 
lation and life, come face to face with these great 
symbols of our Lord's work of human redemption. 
Surely, this celebration deserves for its better observ- 
ance, an occasion and meeting all for itself, without 
being encumbered by other things. 

The first time I ministered as pastor in the holy 
Supper is very fresh in memory. It stirred the soul 
with profoundest emotion and awakened all the deep- 
est feelings of the heart. And even to this day, when 
I come before the table with the sacred emblems cov- 
ered with white linen, the heart is moved as by no 



The Search Light Turned Within. 217 

other sight in all the world. Surely the Lord's Sup- 
per, as an ordinance of his house, can never grow old, 
and surely, too, no pastor can come into its ministra- 
tion untouched or even unmoved. For him it is one 
of the highest, most sacred and most precious occa- 
sions in all his life. 

THE CHURCH IN EXALTED SERVICE. 

Suffer the statement once more, and with all the 
emphasis coming up out of the preceding pages, that 
the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance, and in a pre- 
eminent sense its observance is a church service for 
church members. And its ministration is in every 
sense a service of distinction and belongs alone to the 
churches of Jesus Christ. 

For example, take the Southern Baptist Theological 
Seminary or the Southern Baptist Convention; one 
is a great institution of theological learning and pas- 
toral instruction, composed of a noble faculty, and at- 
tended by young men called of God and in training 
for the glorious work of preaching the Gospel of his 
grace. The other is a great missionary body, having 
at its session in 1907 over fourteen hundred members 
from Baptist churches, preachers and laymen; but 
neither the Seminary nor the Convention would con- 
sider, for a moment, a proposition to observe the 
Lord's Supper. Indeed, such a thing would never be 
thought of in connection with either of them. 

The ordinance is essential to the organic complete- 
ness of a church of Jesus Christ, and its celebration 



2i8 The Memorial Supper. 

is the unique and exalted privilege of the church, as a 
body, in the aggregate of its members. For, being 
many members, they are yet one body, and partakers 
of the one bread. While preserving the individuality 
of the members and their personal responsibility, yet 
the church here communes with her Lord, and cele- 
brates his death and the shedding of his blood for re- 
demption and remission. 

No other service is quite equal to this. Here we 
meet our Lord as we have met him before. Here we 
have a new sense of his suffering, and a new vision 
of his glory. Neither ourselves nor yet others, but 
Christ is all and in all. 

O the bitter pain and sorrow 
That a time could ever be, 
When I proudly said to Jesus, 
"All of self, and none of thee." 

Yet he found me; I beheld him 
Bleeding on th' accursed tree; 
And my wistful heart said faintly, 
"Some of self, and some of thee." 

Day by day his tender mercy 

Healing, helping, full and free. 
Brought me lower, while I whispered, 
"Less of self, and more of thee." 

Higher than the highest heaven. 

Deeper than the deepest sea. 
Lord, thy love at last has conquered, 
*'None of self, and all of thee." 




Christ Risen from the Dead. 




CHAPTER IX. 
IN MEMORY OF CHRIST HIMSELF. 

1 Cor. 11: 24, 25: "Take, eat; this is my body, which is 
broken for you; this do in remembrance of me/. . . This 
cup is the New Testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft 
as ye do it, in remembrance of me." 

ITHERTO, in this discussion, we have been 
engaged, mostly, with doctrines — the doc- 
trines of the Lord's Supper, as beautifully 
symbolized in its emblems and service. But 
now we turn to consider this great memorial cere- 
mony in its relation to a person — the one incomparable 
and unchangeable Person of all the ages. The most 
significant and powerful word in connection with the 
Lord's Supper repeated over and over again, with its 
every observance throughout the centuries, is the per- 
sonal pronoun me. For its author was the Divine 
Person, even more manifest to-day than at first, who 
was back of the ceremony, who then handled the bread 
and wine, and who commanded its observance. With 
him in that crucial moment it was, my body, my blood, 
in remembrance of me, 

GIVING HONOR AND GLORY TO HIM. 

This thought of a person, of the one Person, has 
not been lost sight of in all the discussion which has 



220 The Memorial Supper. 

gone before. It underlies and pervades all that has 
been written from the opening sentence until now. 
And yet it deserves and requires the emphasis of dis- 
tinct and special consideration. Indeed, the whole 
thing is but show and sham, except for him, his word, 
his purpose, his presence. He put his very self into 
this ceremony, as at the first he bare our sins in his 
own body on the tree, suffering and dying the just for 
the unjust that he might bring us to God, and that 
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 
The symbols were powerful because of the reality, 
and the reality was powerful because of the Person. 
It is the glad, joyous recognition and coronation 
of a Person — not of a ceremony, not of a doctrine, 
not of a system, but of a glorious Person who is 
all and in all, the express image of the Father's 
glory. 

And yet, mark you, this is written to give honor and 
glory to Christ in the ordinance, but not in any sense 
for disparagement of the ceremony or its wonderful 
doctrines. I have no sympathy with the distinction 
made much of in some quarters, between Christ and 
doctrines, between deed and creed, and for the most 
part, with intention to depreciate and minimize the 
significance of the doctrines. As for my part, I cannot 
think of Christ apart from doctrine and even dogma. 
Indeed, Christ himself, in his very person, is the ex- 
pression and the embodiment of the highest dogma 
and doctrine. 

As we think of him, if there be intelligence and cor- 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 221 

rectness and scope in the thinking, we necessarily 
form doctrines concerning him; we think of his doc- 
trine, wherein he taught as one having authority; he 
expressed himself in doctrine; he appointed symbols 
and commanded ceremonies for the embodiment and 
the expression of doctrine. And in all that was said, 
and in all that was done, and in all that was com- 
manded, he himself was the one glorious person giv- 
ing point and emphasis to his teaching. 

Moreover, never yet has mortal man been a power 
in the world for mighty deeds, whether prophet or 
apostle or martyr or hero, who did not carry in his 
heart, as a flame of fire, an irresistible I believe — / 
believe, and, therefore, have I spoken. Rome, indeed, 
was shaken by Luther, but Luther himself was first 
shaken by a new creed, which had grappled his heart 
and domineered in his life. I believe, I dare, I do, 
I die — these are the elements which make history, and 
turn the ages into new channels. But it all roots itself 
back in what a man is, and as a man thinketh and be- 
lieveth, so is he. 

What wonderful emphasis the Lord's Supper does 
place upon his person ! His very words are crystallized 
in the service. In its first observance, there were the 
bread and wine, but they were in his hands as yet 
without the nail print; and there he was, in his own 
person, with his body as yet unmarred, his heart un- 
touched by the Roman spear though suffering from 
an anguish more painful. There he was in that little 
group of disciples, the chief figure among them, yet 



222 The Memorial Supper. 

serving them and all succeeding generations, getting 
ready for the morrow, when the world's redemption 
should come by his dying on the cross. 

AS JESUS CHRIST THE LORD. 

Do this in remembrance of fne — as Jesus Christ the 
Lord. That is the august word which came out of that 
upper room, and made that night memorable forever, 
and has been repeated ever since wherever the Lord's 
Supper has been observed. They are words of mean- 
ing, every one ; Jesus means Savior ; Christ means the 
one anointed to save; Lord means sovereignty and 
power, the Mighty to save. All that Christ was on that 
night he now is, and more, for then he had not tasted 
death or broken the power of death or ascended again 
to the right hand of the Father, The Supper is a re- 
membrance of that night, a remembrance of him — the 
same yesterday, to-day and for ever, from everlasting 
to everlasting. 

In a recent book. The Lamp of Sacrifice, Dr. W. 
Robertson Nicoll, of England, presents, in powerful 
fashion, Christ crucified as The Watershed in the 
world of religious thought of to-day. He points out 
how, on yonder mountain summit, the slanting rock 
and the gentle breeze turn the falling raindrop so that 
it flows away by rill and river to this sea or that. All 
men consent to the cross, but Christ crucified is the 
parting of the way, the watershed in present-day 
thinking, some counting him human and dying as 
men die, but others counting him Divine, some going 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 223 

to his humiliation and no further, but some to his coro- 
nation. 

It is the word Divine that turns the course. The essence 
of heresy is the assertion that Christ is a creature. No mat- 
ter how loftily he may be conceived of, if his Deity is denied 
the end- is the long darkness and the frozen tide. . . . The 
other stream turns another way, and ends in another rest. 
We, risen and crucified, preach Christ, Divine, crucified and 
risen. The Divinity, or rather the Deity, is the dividing line. 
Christ was uncreated, not only the Son of God, but God the 
Son. He was perfectly and purely God, and as truly and 
really man. The church lives only as she holds fast to this 
fact, and she knows it. Xo definition or description, theologi- 
cal or other, can do more than touch the fringe of his splendor. 

This is the Person who passes out the word with 
the emblems of that first Supper, "Do this in remem- 
brance of me." It takes us to the very heart of the 
problem of Christ's character ; and that, in turn, takes 
us where the conflict is fiercest to-day in religious 
thinking. It is the old questions: What think ye of 
Christ? Who do men say that I am? Who say ye 
that I am? And in his ordinance, wherever rightly 
administered throughout the world, he gets again the 
answer which Peter gave: "Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God" ; and the answer which Thomas, 
seeing the marks of the cross, gave to him as the risen 
one : "My Lord and my God." So the Lord's Supper, in 
memory of him as a Person, is, with some a rock for 
offense, but with others a rock of defense; with some 
a stumbling-block but, with others, the glorious sym- 
bol of Christ crucified, the power of God and the 
wisdom of God. It declares that in Christ the cruci- 
fied and risen, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead 



224 The Memorial Supper. 

bodily. Do away with this ceremony, or crown him 
King of kings and Lord of lords, very man, indeed, 
but also very God. 

WITH HIS MISSION TO SAVE SINNERS. 

Do this in remembrance of me, having the mission 
to save sinners. Oh, how true it is that men are not 
saved by a ceremony, or a doctrine, or a confession 
of faith, or a church! not by any of them or all of 
them, but by a living Person, whose "name is Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Fa- 
ther, the Prince of Peace," the Savior of sinners. 

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to 
be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation and 
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the 
likeness of men. . . . The Son of man came to seek and to 
save that which was lost — to call sinners to repentance. . . . 
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest. ... I am the resurrection and the 
life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that be- 
lieveth on me hath everlasting life. 

These are the words of the Prince of glory, and his 
mission in the world is a mission to save. Before 
Abraham was, he was; before the world was, he was. 
*'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God. And the Word be- 
came flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his 
glory." This is the world's Savior. And in dealing 
with sin and seeking salvation, we have to do with 
him as a person, Jesus Christ the Lord. The way of 
access to him is wide open to the sinner. There is no 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 225 

intervention, and there can be no intervention between 
the sinner and the Savior who came to save and who is 
seeking to save. He would have this remembered for 
ever and everywhere, as his mission among men. He 
is not ashamed to be called the friend of sinners. And 
what his enemies said of him by way of reproach, 
really became his badge of distinction and his crown 
of honor. He came into the world to save sinners, he 
has gone into the heavens and is in the presence of 
the Father, and always, whether here or there, his 
mission is to save. *lt is a faithful saying, and worthy 
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners." This is ever the language of 
the Memorial Supper. 

SUFFERED AND DIED ON THE CROSS. 

Do this in remembrance of me, as having suffered 
and died on the cross in the fulfillment of his purpose. 
This is my body, broken — this is my blood, shed — as 
oft as ye eat and drink, do this in remembrance of 
me. Oh, what a plea that his suffering and his death 
should be remembered! He endured the cross, de- 
spising the shame, and transformed the shame into 
glory and the cross into the world's only hope of re- 
demption — a prophecy of the coming morrow when 
the powers of darkness should do their worst on 
Calvary ; a prophecy, too, of the long stretch of years 
and centuries that should follow. He never asked 
that we remember his glory, as if that, in its splendor, 
would ever hold its own place, but his suffering, his 

15 



226 The Memorial Supper. 

agony of soul and sorrow of heart and breaking of 
body and dying on the cross — these things he would 
hold forever before the world and have them told 
with every recurrence of the Memorial Supper. 

In one of our beautiful Southern homes a pair of 
small crutches hang on the parlor wall, as an orna- 
ment, to be seen by all who come and go. What mean 
these crutches? Let the mother tell their story. The 
little daughter was maimed, and these crutches were 
her helper and her life and joy. She has gone away, 
and the knocking of these crutches in the hall and on 
the stairway is heard no more, but linger in our mem- 
ory as music from those days when she was here, while 
now we are lonely in our sorrow. And there are the 
crutches on the wall, a memento of suffering and a 
kind of sorrowful delight; a memento, too, of the 
child, herself, of her coming and going in the home. 
The very sight of these crutches, though it be every 
day in the week, awakens the memories in telling the 
story over and over again, and the fountain is ever 
flowing. 

Symbols and emblems can never die, can never 
grow old, can never fade, and always tell the same 
story, whether of suffering and sorrow and defeat, or 
of triumph and joy and renown. Jesus left with his 
people and in his churches this symbol that has a 
double story to tell, viz., how he himself went down 
in the depths of all suffering, of all sorrow, of all 
dying, and yet came out triumphant; and how his 
followers ever afterwards are "more than conquerors" 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 227 

through him. Do this in remembrance of me — of my 
suffering and death on the cross. 

One of the most brilliant of the hostile critics, who 
has gone furthest and deepest in the darkness of un- 
belief, has left his creed of unbelief as follows: 

The time will come when no heart shall remember that the 
Savior suffered and died for the world. The last believer 
shall go down in darkness to his grave, and from that hour 
shall Golgotha vanish away from the earth, like the place 
where the garden of Eden lay. 

Shall the words of this prophet come true? Shall 
Calvary be no more? Shall the fountain of blood 
cease to flow, or lose its blessed satisfying power? 
Shall the Savior and the Savior's sufferings and death 
and glorious deliverance cease forever, even in the 
memory of men? Will people cease to remember that 
the stars shine while the darkness is on, that the sun 
shall rise and bring the glories of a new day, that 
bread will satisfy hunger, and water thirst? 

Over against the dark prophecy of the hostile 
prophet and in answer to these foreboding questions, 
which come to the very heart of the world in its deep- 
est needs, we will spread the Lord's Table next Sun- 
day or the Sunday following, and on "till he come." 
There the white linen, and underneath the simple 
bread and wine ; there the eating and the drinking ; and 
there again, as through many centuries agone, the 
blessed words are heard ever new and fresh, "Do this 
in remembrance of me." We have fellowship with 
his sufferings, and we suffer with him, that we may 



228 The Memorial Supper. 

be glorified together. And the glory shall surely fol- 
low. 

SALVATION IN THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOOD. 

Do this in remembrance of me, as having brought 
salvation through the shedding of blood. This em- 
phasizes the atonement as related to himself, and as 
accomplished in his ozvn person. It is not death but 
his death, not the shedding of blood, hnt. his blood, 
his own dying on the cross, that brought remission 
and redemption and regeneration and cleansing and 
eternal life. The thought or fact or doctrine, which 
soever it may be called, of Christ's atoning work, his 
voluntary and vicarious sacrifice for sin, as wrought 
out in his own person, is ever kept fresh and promi- 
nent in the Memorial Supper. Christ was once offered 
to bear the sins of many, and is the propitiation for 
our sins, that God may be just and the justifier of him 
v/ho believes in Jesus. 

This is at once the simplest and profoundest feature 
of human redemption through the blood — simple as 
a fact of revelation in the Gospel, profound beyond all 
human comprehension in God's economy of grace. It 
baffles all attempt at explanation, even when made by 
devout and evangelical theologians, while others come 
nowhere near even upon the outer border of its won- 
ders and glories. But on the other hand, it appears 
in the preaching even of plain, humble men of God, 
and gives flavor and richness and marvelous saving 
power to their message of grace. And it is a welcome 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 229 

message with the people throughout the wide, wide 
world, wherever sin has gone and has wrought its 
deadly work. Every language under the stars has 
helped to carry the good news to lost men everywhere. 

Naught can cleanse my soul from sin. 
Nothing make me pure within; 
Or the dreadful conflict win. 
Only the blood of Jesus. 

Or this, as the deepest cry of the sinful heart, con- 
scious of its sin before God, and longing to be cleansed 
and saved from its power: 

Lord Jesus, for this I humbly entreat; 
I wait, blessed Lord, at thy crucified feet; 
By faith for my cleansing I see thy blood flow; 
Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Or this, as the note of abounding joy, awakened in 
human hearts the world over where grace has wrought 
its blessed work : 

Free from the law, oh, happy condition, 
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission; 
Curs'd by the law, and bruis'd by the fall, 
Grace hath redeemed us once for all. 

Or this, as the song of hallelujah, triumphant and 
grateful in the deliverance which grace has brought: 

We praise thee, God! for the Son of thy love. 

For Jesus who died, and is now gone above! 

All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain. 

Who has borne all our sins, and hath cleansed every stain. 

All this is familiar and plain enough, surely, in 
word and statement and meaning. But oh, the depths, 



230 The Memorial Supper. 

marvelous and inexplicable depths of mercy and grace 
and love! The hungry child eats bread and is satis- 
fied, drinks the water and is satisfied, but knows noth- 
ing, does not even stop to inquire about nature's laws 
of fitness and adaptation and satisfying power. And 
the greatest philosopher knows little more than the 
child, yet they, too, like the child, eat and are satisfied, 
drink and live. 

Even so it is with this wonderful message of salva- 
tion which God has sent out into the world. What- 
ever else men may count of Christ, he himself should 
be remembered as having brought salvation in the 
shedding of his blood. This has been the message of 
every great evangelist and the keynote in every great 
movement for saving men. The Lord's Supper magni- 
fies the crucified Christ, as having power in himself 
as a person, to save, and having in his death opened 
up the way of life — that having died, he now lives, 
and that his Gospel is the power of God unto salva- 
tion for every one that believeth. 

IN PERSONAL UNION WITH BELIEVERS. 

Do this in remembrance of me, as being in union 
with those who believe in me. Faith in Christ is the 
one bond of union between him and the believer. No 
two words in the New Testament mean more than 
these, viz., in Christ, as expressive of the oneness, the 
real, living, spiritual, mystical oneness between him 
and those who are his. This spiritual fact is twofold, 
the believer in union with Christ and Christ in union 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 231 

with the believer. This is the meaning and emphasis 
of the Lord's Supper, in the very eating and drinking 
of the elements in the ordinance. The cup which we 
bless, is it not the communion (symbol of our par- 
taking) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we 
bless, is it not the communion (symbol of our partak- 
ing) of the body of Christ ? This glorious and blessed 
truth is stated in the plainest and strongest terms pos- 
sible in the Word of God, concerning those who are 
in Christ and know him in the forgiveness of their 
sin. 

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things 
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. . . . 
Which is Christ in you the hope of glory. ... He that be- 
lieveth on the Son hath the witness in himself. . . , The 
Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirits that we are 
the children of God. ... I am persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us 
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
. . . I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto hira 
against that day. . . . Are kept by the power of God through 
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. 

So the Word of God everywhere. And this same 
great truth in all fullness and richness is symbolized in 
every return of the Memorial Supper. This union is 
reciprocal, and vital, and conscious, and powerful be^ 
tween Christ and believers. He in them — they in him, 
and sharing with him his death, and resurrection and 
glory. He was made sin for them, and they are made 
the righteousness of God in him. He is their salva-* 



232 The Memorial Supper. 

tion, and they are his inheritance in the saints who 
shall shine for ever in the brightness of his glory. 

KNOWN THROUGH AN EXPERIENCE OF GRACE. 

Do this in remembrance of me, as person meeting 
person face to face and heart to heart. This oneness 
with Christ is an experience of his saving grace, which 
is symbolized in the Lord's Supper. As we know the 
taste of bread and the taste of wine, so we taste and 
find that the Lord is gracious. The heart-hunger and 
the heart-thirst find full satisfaction in him. Knowing 
the teachings of Christ, the doctrines concerning 
Christ, or knowing even the historic Christ himself 
in the New Testament record, does not go as far, and 
is entirely different from knowing him by experience 
as our personal Savior and in the forgiveness of our 
sin. 

This distinction is real and vital. One may study 
electricity months and even years, and know much 
about its laws and functions and mystery and power. 
But he can know more about it in a second of time by 
a single touch of a charged battery, and the knowledge 
is more real, more potent, and more his own. It is 
experimental knowledge. He has apprehended and 
been apprehended by electricity, has felt its marvelous 
power ; cannot tell how, but knows, beyond all dispute, 
that something real and powerful has taken place 
throughout his being. It is something like this, but 
in a deeper and more wonderful sense, when one comes, 
through faith, to know Christ by experience, whom 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 233 

to know aright Is life eternal. It is the experience 
of one person with another heart to heart and soul to 
soul. "I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
suaded that he is able'' — know him as my Lord and 
my God, kjiow him as my Savior, knozv him in the 
forgiveness of sin, and known of him as his. 

The several expressions, religious experience, an 
experience of grace, an experimental knowledge of 
Christ and of the things pertaining to him — mean the 
same thing, and stand for real fact to be taken ac- 
count of in the spiritual realm, and as one of the most 
common and powerful factors in the lives of men — 
and of men, too, in every race and grade and condition 
of life. In a little volume, The Religious Value of the 
Old Testament, the author gives us the following 
passage on personal experience of the things of 
God: 

Religious discoveries are wholly personal; they are made 
by men from their own hearts; and in reliance on what is 
written there they defy the world. 

One of the surest methods of verification of spiritual truth, 
is close understanding of the souls that were profound and 
pure enough to disclose it. A scientific discovery may be 
perfected by the generations which succeed the discoverer; a 
religious discovery is always clearest and mightiest in the 
soul of the discoverer; indeed, we may in a sense assert that 
whereas a scientific truth may be verified, a religious truth 
must be imparted. 

That is doubtless the underlying meaning of the Sacrament 
which the author of the fourth Gospel so profoundly ex- 
pressed in the words: "Except ye eat the fiesh and drink the 
blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in yourselves." The 
only method of obtaining the belief of Jesus is to share his 
spirit. If this be so, the unique religious value of the Old 
Testament is clearly seen and is well nigh impossible to 



234 The Memorial Supper. 

overestimate. In recording the discoveries of the fundamen- 
tal truths of our religion, it preserves in a very important 
sense the truths themselves. 

This book was written from the standpoint of "the 
higher critic," and contains much that is utterly averse 
to the truth as we understand it. For this very reason, 
however, the statement here quoted is all the more re- 
markable. Although written concerning men in the 
Old Testament as its basis, yet it announces principles 
good for all time, and is an excellent estimate of the 
value of personal experience with a personal Savior. 

It is not quite clear as to the meaning of the author 
in some of his words. What he calls "discovery" and 
"discoveries," Simon Peter and Saul of Tarsus would 
no doubt call revelations, things made known to men, 
and perhaps that is the author^s meaning when he 
says, "a religious truth must be imparted." He surely 
is right, however, in his estimate that men in reliance 
upon what their hearts know, defy the world. If they 
know, then they know and that is the end of con- 
troversy with them. Such men, if crowded, become 
dogmatic in their knowledge — humble and devout, but 
dogmatic — dogmatic not in a dogma, but in their ex- 
perimental knowledge of a person, Christ Jesus the 
Lord, their Savior and Redeemer and King. For 
they know, and they know that they know, and their 
knowledge passes close into the class of the exact 
sciences. "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not ; 
but one thing I know; whereas I was blind, now I 
see." 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 235 

Take, for example, these two men, altogether un- 
like each other save in the strong native elements of 
their character, and in their great, deep need common 
to men in the world without Christ and without God 
and without hope. The one was a strong, rough man, 
who had no schooling, no training, except what came 
among the fishermen of the lake. He was brought to 
Jesus. He found Christ and Christ found him. He 
came to know Christ first, as the Messiah, then as the 
great Teacher, and then as the Son of the living God 
— but how.f* "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jona," an- 
swers our Lord, to the noble confession, "for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father which is in heaven." And when this man 
came, through many experiences, later to know his 
Lord in the power of his resurrection, all men took 
knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus, for he 
would not hold his peace in telling the things which he 
had both seen and heard. 

The other was a man trained in the best schools 
and in all the learning of his day. But on his way to 
Damascus, he encountered Jesus of Nazareth, recog- 
nized in him the Crucified One, and found in him his 
Lord; apprehended Christ after he had been appre- 
hended by Christ, and ever afterwards he held the 
Lordship of Jesus supreme in his heart and life. He 
counted all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord; he surrendered 
all to him, and nothing could turn him from his high 
purpose, nor did he count even his life dear unto 



23^ The Memorial Supper. 

himself, if only he could finish his course with joy; 
he died as a martyr to his Lord, but in the triumph 
of faith, looking away and beyond, to the crown of 
righteousness which his Lord, the righteous judge, 
should give to him, and still further beyond, to a 
glorious time surely coming, when "at the name of 
Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father." 

This is knowing Jesus through experience, and this 
is the knowledge of him which is celebrated in every 
celebration of the Holy Ordinance. "Do this in re- 
membrance of me," as person meeting person face to 
face and heart to heart. Much, of course, remains 
unknown, more with some than with others, but what 
we know cannot be discounted or discredited by what 
we do not know. "Whether he be a sinner or no, I 
know not,'* said the man whose eyes had been opened. 
"One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I 
see." Knowledge from experience is the master 
knowledge of the world. To know Jesus Christ ex- 
perimentally, to know him as our Savior and Lord, 
and in the forgiveness of our sins, is knowledge, in- 
deed, higher than the heights above and deeper than 
the depths beneath — the anchor of the soul, within the 
veil, both sure and steadfast. 

HIS mastership of all the ages. 

In such experiences of grace, Christ holds his place 
in the hearts of men, and builds his kingdom in the 



In Memory of Christ Himself. ^37 

lives of men among all the nations of earth. ''On 
this rock I will build my church," was his word of 
unshaken confidence. And his empire is an empire 
of love — "an empire of Christ more solid and lasting, 
and infinitely more compact in loyalty and freedom 
than the proudest empires of the world," and a scepter 
of righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. 

"Do this in remembrance of me/' he said, and spoke 
for the future. Other prophets had spoken, and their 
prophecies had found fulfillment in him. The past was 
finished and fixed ; he held that in his hand, and in ap- 
pointing his Memorial he spoke his word of com- 
mand on the years or the centuries that might follow, 
and with utmost confidence and composure he put 
down his words for the future, at once a promise to 
hold in his hand the succeeding centuries and a 
prophecy of the final triumph of his kingdom. With 
the spirit of command on coming ages, he spoke those 
lofty words: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
my word shall not pass away until all be fulfilled." 
And that other word, even more lofty, if possible, 
and expressive of an ever-abiding presence as things 
come and go in the history of men and nations : 
"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world." 

What we have to deal with in him is, not first or chiefly 
his teaching, but first and chiefly his Person: a Person tran- 
scending the limits of earthly life, and of time and space, 
and of race and language; a Person attesting himself alive 
and in power by the work he does in creating persons made 
new and made strong by love. Concede the present day life 
of the Person and his consciousness of man as co-extensive 



^^S The Memorial Supper* 

with man's life, and the peculiar vitality of his teaching 
while on earth becomes intelligible. 

This ordinance brings us face to face with his per- 
son, and gives tremendous emphasis to his teaching 
as an ever-present w^ord of authority. The future 
with him is as the past, and every observance of the 
Supper becomes the declaration of confidence in his 
coming triumph. He knew what was coming on the 
morrow, and in advance prepared his Memorial, and 
gave it to his disciples for their keeping until he 
should come again. The past, the present, and the 
future were his as he spoke the word that night, and 
are his to-day. 

His dominion extends over all, and his kingdom 
has no end. We assemble in obedience to his ap- 
pointment, and celebrate his death for sin, and do this 
in remembrance of him. And his word is fragrant 
with the memories of that event and full of power 
to emphasize his ever-abiding presence, and his final 
coming again without sin unto salvation. To-day is 
his, yesterday was his, to-morrow also is his, and on 
to the end, until the eternal cycle shall complete its 
course, and the kingdoms of this world become the 
kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, who is the 
same yesterday, to-day and for ever. 

IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH A CEREMONY. 

"Do this in remembrance of me." In saying this, our 
Lord appointed an ordinance, commanded its observ- 
ance in his churches, assigned its high purpose, and 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 239 

identiHed himself with the ceremony in its adminis- 
tration. This can hardly be said with too much em- 
phasis. His presence is personal and perpetual and 
powerful in the ordinance. 

He thoroughly identifies himself with this cere- 
mony, and in a sense commits himself to an ordinance 
as his abiding witness through the centuries. This 
and me — this and me — do this in remembrance of me. 
Bread and wine — my body and my blood, — the one a 
high symbol of the other. They witness for him; 
thinking of them leads to thinking of him; the sight 
of them leads to the memory of him in his suffering 
and death for sin ; while the eating and drinking stand 
for personal union with him as a person. In remem- 
brance of me — that is the great word of the ordinance, 
and associates it with him always and everywhere. 

The ordinance does not, in any sense, communicate 
Christ, or in any sense become a means of salvation. 
But, nevertheless, it has high meaning all its own, and 
of scarcely less significance. It is a witness for Christ, 
bold and unchangeable in its testimony. The elements 
never cease to be bread and wine, and in no sense do 
they become flesh and blood; they remain emblems, 
and in their emblematic power tell their wonderful 
story. The human heart, in its weakness and longing, 
is ever appealing to the eye for help. Even when 
walking by faith and believing without question, the 
heart craves the privilege of seeing. "I believe, but 
oh, that I could see him — or a picture of him — could 
have but one look on that dear form." Here, in these 



240 The Memorial Supper. 

symbols, this heart-call has its answer and this heart- 
hunger is somewhat satisfied. Through these symbols, 
in this ceremony, our Lord gives out the old-time 
word : "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; 
and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side. 
. . . Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my- 
self. ... Be not faithless but believing." And these 
pungent words pierce our hearts and awaken the 
old-time answer, told many times over, "My Lord and 
my God." 

Thus, the risen Christ, with the marks of the cross, 
holds his mastership in this ordinance. And he has so 
identified himself with its observance, that our treat- 
ment of the ceremony may indicate our bearing to- 
ward Christ himself. We honor him by recognizing 
and honoring the things which are his. What a pro- 
test this makes against the disposition to undervalue 
and minimize the ceremony ! Those who can set aside 
Baptism or the Lord's Supper, as "mere ceremony," 
or as "only rites," need to look deeper into their heart 
and spirit. This surface word may betray a lack of 
love and obedience and loyalty to their Lord. His 
word — "do this in remembrance of me" — has set the 
ceremony for ever among the holy things of his king- 
dom and among the great things of the world. 

AS SUPREME IN THE ORDINANCE. 

This brings us once more, as a concluding thought, 
to recognize his supreme place in the ordinance. His 
word, his requirements, his will — these should hold 



In Memory of Christ Himself. 241 

in our hearts and control in th eobservance of this 
great ceremony. "Let no other thought intrude/' not 
even the thought of ''communing with mother or 
father." We come to this ceremony in Christ's name, 
and for Christ's honor, and to him belongs the su- 
preme thought. The whole service is marred if we 
depart from this lofty conception of its noble senti- 
ment and exalted privilege. If Jesus is not given the 
supreme place, we may well question whether we have 
given him any place at all — whether he is ours and 
we are his in deed and in truth. 

It is remarkable that our Lord, having left only 
two ordinances in his churches. Baptism and the Sup- 
per, made both of them commemorative; the one as 
monument, the other as memorial; the one a witness 
for his burial and resurrection, the other a witness 
for his death which went before the burial and for 
his new life that came after his resurrection; the one 
emphasizing, in its administration, his Lordship as 
Son of God and God the Son, the other, in its fre- 
quent repetition in the churches emphasizing his per- 
son and his Lordship, as ever present the Mighty to 
save. Do this in remembrance of me, is his heart-call 
to those who love and have experienced his saving 
grace. 

OUR PLEA FOR HIS REMEMBERING US. 

It is of infinite moment that our Lord should re- 
member us. What would it mean to be forgotten by 
him! While providing in these wonderful symbols 

16 



242 The Memorial Supper. 

that we shall remember him, he assures us of access to 
him at all times by way of the cross, and that he will 
never leave us or lose us. This is our plea and hope. 

Jesus, Thou art the sinner's friend, 

As such I look to Thee; 
Now in the fullness of Thy love, 

Lord, remember me. 

Remember Thy pure word of grace,—! 

Remember Calvary ; 
Remember all Thy dying groans. 

And then remember me. 

Thou wondrous Advocate with God! 

1 yield myself to Thee; 

While Thou art sitting on Thy throne, 

Lord, remember me. 

Lord, I am guilty — I am vile. 

But thy salvation's free; 
Then, O my dear Redeemer God, 

1 pray remember me. 

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath 
he removed our transgression from us." "Though 
your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow: 
though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." 
"I will put my laws into their hearts," saith the Lord, 
"and in their minds will I write them; and their sins 
and iniquities will I remember no more." 

My faith looks up to Thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary; 

Savior divine; 
Now hear me while I pray; 
Take all my guilt away: 
O, let me from this day. 

Be wholly thine. 




CHAPTER X. 

THE MEMORIAL'S CROWNING PARADOX. 

HIS study of the Memorial Supper here 
reaches its summit, from whose heights we 
shall have, presently, the Foregleam of the 
Heavenly Kingdom. The ordinance, so sim- 
ple and affecting, here comes to its most exalted pur- 
pose: "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this 
cup, ye do show the Lord's death." 

This quiet word to the Church of God at Corinth, 
not only points our mission in this ceremony, but as- 
signs unique and august meaning to the death of 
Jesus on the cross. In that appalling event, the Prince 
of glory was crucified. When he cried with a loud 
voice, bowed his head and died, it was the dying of 
the Son of God. His death was the Lord's death, and 
there was darkness over the whole earth, as though 
the universe had gone in mourning over the amazing 
and awful catastrophe. The showing of his death is 
the crowning paradox of all the wonders in the Memo- 
rial celebration. 

THE TRUTH SET IN PARADOX FORM. 

A paradox, by the dictionary, is defined as follows : 

A statement or proposition which seems to be absurd, or 
at variance with common sense, or to contradict some previ- 



244 The Memorial Supper. 

ously ascertained truth, though when properly investigated 
it may be found to be perfectly well founded. 

The paradox may apply to a condition or truth, as 
well as to proposition and statement. It may be sim- 
ply a method of instruction, a way of putting things 
for the sake of emphasis and effectiveness, or the 
paradox may inhere in the very nature of a truth and 
in the essential elements of a condition. In either 
case, there is seeming absurdity and contradiction, but 
real and well-founded certainty. Some one tells you 
he saw a man going two opposite directions at the 
same time. You promptly pronounce that a physical 
impossibility. But as explanation, the man was on a 
railroad train which was running forty miles an hour, 
while he was walking from the front to the rear of the 
coach. Some one says a man may sit in his office and 
talk with another man hundreds of miles away con- 
cerning matters of business or home, and with satis- 
faction. That would have been a paradox twenty-five 
years ago when the telephone was just coming into 
use, but it is now so common as not to excite com- 
ment. 

We need not hesitate, when confronted by a para- 
dox in the higher sphere of thought or life, of truth 
or experience — even so great a truth as the Lord's 
death, and our relation to it, and its frequent celebra- 
tion in the simple services of the Lord's Supper. From 
experience in the past and present, we should learn 
by this time to expect something great when we come 
upon truth in paradox form — to expect the greatest 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 245 

paradoxes, as testing human speech to the utmost for 
expression, concerning man and God, concerning the 
invisible and eternal. In such presence, faith may 
wonder and even adore, but need not fear or hesi- 
tate. 

THE bible's use OF THE PARADOX. 

The use of the paradox abounds in the Bible, in 
both Old and New Testaments. Sometimes it ap- 
pears only as a method of instruction — setting one 
thing over against another for clearness and emphasis. 
But sometimes, in the Bible, the paradox inheres in 
the very nature of the truth stated or in the very ele- 
ments of the condition described, for example, the 
Lord's death. Unthoughtful people may pronounce 
this contradictory or impossible in nature or in the 
spiritual. But these statements in the Bible are sim- 
ply paradoxes, "seeming absurd, or at variance with 
common sense, though when properly investigated," 
or judged from a new standpoint or in a new relation, 
are easily seen to be well founded. 

This same thing is true in nature, the other great 
book of God, and also in the sciences which are the 
interpretation of nature's ways. Nature has her won- 
ders, and abounds in paradoxes. The sciences often 
test our faith as much and sometimes even more than 
the paradox conditions and truths of the Word of 
God. The student of nature, of her laws and processes, 
if he be devout and has learned to walk humbly in 
her great realm, will have no occasion to stumble or 



246 The Memorial Supper. 

halt in the study of the greater wonders of the greater 
volume. 

"Christian Paradoxes'* was the title of a book pub- 
lished some years ago. The author, Dr. N. M. Craw- 
ford, was endowed with rare gifts of heart and mind, 
and had excellent scholarship and ability as a writer, 
and in every way well fitted for the great task to which 
he set himself. The book was of exceptional merit, 
ji discussing twenty-three paradoxes of the Christian 

system in as many chapters, and covering nearly five 
hundred pages. And yet the distinguished author felt 
constrained to say in his preface: 

I do not pretend to have exhausted the subject, either by 
presenting all the paradoxes of Christianity, or by saying 
all that might be said on the topics which I have discussed. 
My object has been to present some of the more prominent 
of those doctrinal, experimental and practical subjects con- 
cerning which the Scriptures use language which, being taken 
apart from the great system of truth, might appear contra- 
dictory — and to discuss them so as to show that each har- 
monizes with the whole. 

The Bible not only abounds in paradoxes, but is 
often startling in their boldness. It traces the move- 
ments of history, discloses God's hand in shaping and 
guiding, and often makes its records in paradox form 
— in language simple and unpretentious, but in mean- 
ing profound and full of wonder. The quiet calm- 
:j, ness and composure in which these great matters are 

j recorded in the Word of God, remind one of the ris- 

ing of the sun morning by morning. He is simply 
here, with no noise in his coming, but self-evident in 
his own brightness and warmth and life-giving power. 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 247 

I heard Dr. W. C. Wilkinson, one of the clearest 
and devoutest thinkers of our day, read a paper on 
'The Paradox of Jesus." The paper was masterful in 
every way, and showed how the paradox appears not 
only in our Lord's teaching as a method of instruction, 
but also in the truths and doctrines which he an- 
nounced, and in his own very nature and person. 
This condition of paradox in him was a constant 
wonder to those who heard his gracious words and 
saw his miracles. Jesus himself was the greatest 
paradox that ever moved among men — the wonder of 
men, and in his new relation, even a greater wonder 
to angels. He himself was extraordinary, whether 
sleeping in the hinder part of the ship or command- 
ing the waves and the wind; whether raising the 
dead, that they lived again, or himself expiring on 
the cross while nature was shaken and groaned in 
spirit. 

OUR lord's life a paradox life. 

The coming of Jesus to Bethlehem, born of a wom- 
an and born under the law to redeem them who are 
under the law, ushered in a new order of things. It 
was itself a paradox, and began a series of new para- 
doxes, each one in its order making possible and ne- 
cessary the one that followedjan unbroken chain, 
link woven into link, and completed in uniqueness of 
beauty and power. There was a new relation, and this 
made new conditions and a new system of truth. 
There is boldness throughout, but also simplicity and 



248 The Memorial Supper. 

clearness, consistency and symmetry — part joined to 
part as in the building of the universe. 

Jesus was at once Son of man, as he himself in- 
sisted, and Son of God, as appeared everywhere in 
the miracle of his words and the mightier miracle of 
his works. He moved all the while in his new rela- 
tion without break from first to last. In his first 
public word he recognized his "Father's business," 
and in his last expiring word on the cross he com- 
mitted his spirit into his "Father's hands." Through 
all those intervening years, his meat and his drink 
was to do the will of his Father who had sent him. 

The following lines set this new relation and this 
exalted new life in beautiful glow. They are from 
Dr. W. J. Dawson's Empire of Love, a book which 
should find its way into homes and hearts everywhere : 

When, for the last time, from his mother's home 

The Son went forth, foreseeing perfectly 
What doom would happen, and what thing would come, 

Was there upon his lips no stifled sigh 
For happy hours that should return no more. 

Long days among the lilies, pure delights 
Of wanderings by Galilee's fair shore. 

And converse with his friends on starry nights? 
Yet brave he stepped into the setting sun 

With this one word, "Father, Thy will be done!" 

With a low voice the stooping olive-trees 

Whispered to him of his Gethsemane; 
The cruel thorn-bush, clinging to his knees, 

Proclaimed, "I shall be made a crown for Thee!" 
And, looking back, his eyes made dim with loss, 

He saw the lintel of the cottage grow 
In shape against the sunset, like a cross. 

And knew he had not very far to go. 
Yet brave he stepped into the setting sun. 

Still saying this one word, "Thy will be done!" 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 249 

So, when the last time, from his mother's home 

The Son passed out, no choir of angels came. 
As long before at Bethlehem they had come. 

To comfort him upon the road of shame. 
Alone he went, and stopped a little space, 

As one o'erburdened, stopped to look again 
Upon his mother's pleading form and face, 

And wept for her, that she should know this pain. 
Then, silently, he faced the setting sun 

And said, "Oh, Father, let thy will be done!" 

These noble lines give form and flavor to this new 
relation in which we are following our Lord. The 
cross toward which he was moving rose early on his 
horizon, and never lowered but moved steadily to 
its culmination. He faltered in nothing, and his face 
was toward Jerusalem and *'the setting sun.'* He 
"began to show unto his disciples, how that he must 
go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things . . . and 
be killed, and be raised again the third day." And yet 
over against this ominous cloud, as a rainbow of 
glory, hear his lofty words of paradox : I am the res- 
urrection and the life ; Come unto me all ye that labor 
and I will give you rest; I am the way, the truth, and 
the life; He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; 
I am the bread of life ; He that believeth on me shall 
never die; The Son of man hath power on earth to 
forgive sins. 

So he said, and moved right on. While you won- 
der, you yet feel in your heart that he has spoken not 
one word amiss — so well does he fit into his new rela- 
tion, and so well adapted are the new conditions, part 
to part. He contemplated the end with amazing com- 



250 The Memorial Supper. 

posure, and spoke the kingly words with more than 
kingly power, to remove all fear from those who fol- 
lowed : "I lay down my life, that I might take it again ; 
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of my- 
self. I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again. For as the Father hath life in him- 
self, so hath he given to the Son to have life in him- 
self." 

In this language, which shows him more than man, 
our Lord leads us to new and exalted eminence from 
v/hich to consider his dying and death. In the low 
lands we have one horizon, but on the mountain 
heights there is wider scope of vision. What seems 
extraordinary here, easily becomes ordinary when we 
walk among the stars. Natural and supernatural, like 
up and down, are relative terms and describe relative 
conditions, and depend on where we stand. Our Lord 
was at home and moving in his natural sphere when 
asserting his absolute power over life and death. In 
his new relation he carried within himself the power 
to die and the power of resurrection — power to lay 
down his life and power to take it again. This was his 
purpose as he came to the fullness of time. He would 
master the cross and close his paradox life in sublime 
finish and fitness. 

THE lord's death THE CROWNING PARADOX. 

If any one paradox overreaches all others, surely 
it must be the Lord's death. We must view Christ's 
life and mission and death from his own standpoint. 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 251 

There is no surprise that the paradox life should cul- 
minate in the crowning paradox. That the Lord 
should die at all, and especially that he should die on 
the cross, is the most amazing fact and the most 
astounding truth, that could possibly elicit the con- 
templation and excite the wonder of men or angels. 
But such is its relation and adjustment to other con- 
ditions as to make even this paradox possible and 
plausible, consistent and certain, and even necessary 
in God's great plan and purpose of human redemption. 

The Lord's death, as a fact, does not stand by itself. 
It is one of a series of facts, as the building of a 
tower has stone on stone from foundation to turret. 
Each of these facts is separate and distinct, yet de- 
pendent and interdependent ; each making possible and 
requiring the others ; while together they are wrought 
into one complete and consistent whole, with Christ 
Jesus the Lord as the sum and substance of them all 
in his being and person, his nature and work. 

His preexistence from the beginning, his incarna- 
tion in the virgin birth, his lofty teaching and more 
lofty living, his immaculate and incomparable charac- 
ter, then his unique and mighty dying, followed by 
his resurrection from the dead, with his ascension 
and his sitting at the right hand of the Father — this 
is the cycle by grades and strides, from throne back 
to throne again, with the cross an inevitable factor in 
his glorious work of grace and atonement 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh 



252 The Memorial Supper. 

and dwelt among us. . . . Unto us a child is born, unto us 
a Son is given; and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The 
Prince of Peace. . . Unto you is born this day, in the city 
of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ... Ye do 
show the Lord's death till he come. . . . And he is before all 
things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head 
of the body, the church. 

These few passages, chosen from the Old and New 
Testament, represent the thought which stands out 
boldly on the sacred pages everywhere, viz., that 
Jesus of Nazareth, as Son of God and Son of man, 
was both divine and human — ^very God and very man. 
He was Christ the Lord and yet was born the Sav- 
ior; he was God manifest in the flesh; his name was 
Immanuel — God with us. He is the image — the em- 
bodiment and outward expression of the invisible God, 
the brightness of his glory and the express image of 
his person, upholding all things by the word of his 
power. "For by him were all things created, that are 
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in- 
visible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principali- 
ties, or powers; all things were created by him and 
for him." 

This person, so wonderfully and gloriously marked, 
is Christ Jesus our Lord, whose death on the cross 
we are now contemplating, and whose death is shown 
in every celebration of the Lord's Supper, and is its 
Crowning Paradox. The destructive critics distin- 
guish between the Christ of the Gospels and Christ as 
he appears in other parts of the New Testament. But 
the distinction as intended by them is unwarranted, 



The Memorial's Crowning Par^vdox. 253 

fallacious and false. He is the same Christ through- 
out, though under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, 
as he himself had promised, those same men came 
later to know him not differently but better. Their 
view of him was enlarged, and enriched, and made 
clearer by new experiences of his grace and new vi- 
sions of his glory. 

Moreover, if we, as laymen, cannot reach the origi- 
nals and judge for ourselves, but must have some one 
to interpret and construe the Christ of the Gospels, we 
will not choose that "Higher Critic," so-called, who 
abridges our Lord's character, sees nothing of Deity in 
him, and takes from him his power and glory of cross 
and resurrection. We prefer as our leaders, John, and 
Paul, and Peter, and others, who were eye-witnesses 
of his Majesty, subjects of his marvelous power of 
saving grace and could not but tell the things which 
they had heard and seen. 

They never once, even in their loftiest moments, 
broke with the Christ of Galilee, or with the Lord in 
his death on the cross, or with the Jesus of resurrec- 
tion power and experience. Throughout, there was 
enlargement and enrichment, but no difference other- 
wise. To them, Christ was ever the same; ''Being in 
the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God. But made himself of no reputation, and 
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion 
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross." 



254 The Memorial Supper. 

he died on the cross as the god-man. 

For his unique mission, our Lord took not on him 
the nature of angels, but was partaker of flesh and 
blood in the likeness of his brethren. While remaining 
divine, he became also human, was God in the likeness 
of man. In this twofold nature, therefore — divine and 
human — our Lord created for himself a new relation 
with new experiences; he put himself under limita- 
tions, and yet, in these very limitations, he made for 
himself new and larger possibilities. 

It was in this twofold nature that he had the power 
to die, and had the experience of dying — tasting 
death for every man. Our Lord was horn — God mani- 
fest in the flesh, and we follow him in his paradox life, 
ever and anon 

"Seeing in human flesh 
The God shine through." 

We follow him to the end, astounded out of meas- 
ure, that our Lord could die. And yet more amazed 
still, we behold him in the glory of his person and the 
fullness of his nature expire on the cross, and become 
for ever— ^ 

"Conqueror over death 
By being slain." 

Some time in the seventies, the Religious Herald 
published a discussion between Dr. J. B. Jeter, then 
editor, and, as my memory goes. Dr. Alvah Hovey, 
then professor in Newton Theological Seminary. The 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 255 

subject was the momentous question, "Did Divinity 
Suffer in the Dying of Jesus on the Cross ?'* The dis- 
cussion impressed me profoundly, as a young man 
just then entering the ministry. It is not now recalled 
which side the two great men held respectively. I 
remember well, however, where the discussion left 
my mind, and without peradventure, viz.: that Christ 
had two natures — equally human and divine, which 
were blended and wrought into one person; that we 
may distinguish, but cannot divide between his two 
natures, assigning so much and some actions to his 
human nature, and so much and some actions to his 
divine nature; that he was one person — the divine 
man — and did whatever he did as the one person in 
the fullness of his nature; and that the question 
whether Divinity suffered was altogether without 
practical value, even when discussed by two men, 
famous, everywhere, for learning, ability, and devout 
simplicity. 

All my reading and meditation through the years 
since, have made clearer and stronger that view, deep- 
ened and enriched it as a conviction. The Lord was 
the God-Man in all that he was, without distinction 
between human and divine, and did as God-Man what- 
ever he did; as God-Man, he wept with Mary and 
Martha at the grave of Lazarus, and raised the dead 
to life; as God-Man he sat on the well, and read the 
woman's thoughts and uncovered her heart; as God- 
man, also — Jesus Christ the Lord — he died on the 
cross, rose again from the dead, was with his disci- 



256 The Memorial Supper. 

pies coming in and going out, and, finally, sat down 
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He brought 
his Father's nature to the cradle and the cross, and 
returned from the sepulcher to the crown and the 
throne in his human nature, glorified with ineffable 
splendor. 

; AN INFINITE DEATH OF INFINITE MERIT. 

Confessedly, we are dealing with momentous and 
difficult questions. "Without controversy, great is 
the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the 
flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached 
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received 
up to glory." Some one has used the expression, **the 
dimensions of Christ's death" ; the phrase seems rather 
mechanical, and yet there is manifestly in his death 
scope and fullness. In him dwelt all the fullness of 
the Godhead bodily, and this made his death excep- 
tional, infinite in itself and of infinite merit. 

Dr. Nicoll, of England, already quoted in the pre- 
ceding chapter, gives us, in his sermon on Christ Cru- 
cified, a further statement. We venture to quote him, 
at length, for the sake of the beauty and power of 
expression in which he sets out this great truth. 

If we are to understand the preaching of Christ crucified, 
we must fill every word and every thought with the full 
meaning of Deity which belongs to €he name of Christ. The 
more we do this, the more gloriously the river will expand and 
end. 

It is the Deity of Christ which gives meaning to his atone- 
ment. We must not shrink from the strongest words that 
Scripture uses; rather we must glory in them. The Church 
of God has been purchased by the blood of God. Whenever 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 257 

we preach Christ, whenever we sit at his Table, we show forth 
the Lord's death. 

It is the Deity of Christ that gave his death its significance 
in regard to sin. The blood of man could not put away sin 
any more than the blood of bulls and goats could. It was 
the blood of the God-Man that finished transgression and 
made an end of sin. The mind of the new century may re- 
ject for a time a substitutionary sacrifice of Emmanuel. The 
modern mind will always reject the miserable theory that 
the death of another martyr can do anything to help the 
world in its plight of sin and guilt. 

Christ died as man, but he died as God. He laid down his 
life for us. He had power to lay it down, and he used that 
power. It was not the nails that held him to the tree, but 
the bonds and cords, the ancient prophecies and mysteries of 
love. He died as victim, but he also died as Priest. 

Verily the day of his power was the day of his cross. So 
we look to him and see in his cross not the example of a 
weak martyr, not a moral influence, but an actual and ir- 
reversible triumph. The bringing in of a new order, the 
ending of the old. 

No man Christ, no angel Christy no half divine Christ 
could suffice us. The Christ who died for us yielded himself 
of his royal will in sacrifice, that he might restore his 
guilty people to the lost ranks and franchises of the sons of 
God. So by faith we lay our hands on his dear head and 
confess our sins. Believing, we rejoice to see the curse re- 
moved. 



These are strong, bold words, and of tremendous 
moment. But, for myself, I go in mind and heart to 
their utmost meaning. This is the only Gospel which 
will satisfy the world's heart-hunger and suffering, 
and take away its sin. There was infinite merit in his 
death, because of his infinite character, and in that 
merit there is the purchase power for human re- 
demption. We are bought with a price, even the price 
of the precious blood of Christ, which he shed on the 
cross. And the redeemed are his forever. We might 
17 



258 The Memorial Supper. 

talk of the dimensions of his death, if only we were 
"able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ 
which passeth knowledge." We adore and worship 
him as the once crucified Lord, but now the risen and 
glorified Lord, our hope and our joy forever. 

THE PARADOX COMMEMORATED IN SYMBOL. 

The Lord's Supper is in memory of the Lord's 
death, his own chosen and appointed memorial to 
celebrate in his churches the paradox of his death on 
the cross. The Lord's death and the Lord's Supper — 
these are set one over against the other, the one funda- 
mental and essential in God's plan of redemption, the 
other its symbol and pictorial representation. As often 
as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shozv 
the Lord's death till he come. 

The Revised Version uses the word proclaim in- 
stead of the word shozv, but the word proclaim does 
not seem adequate. This beautiful ceremony, with its 
emblems and service, preaches indeed, and proclaims, 
but it is more than preacher, more than proclamation. 
With its broken bread and poured out wine, the 
Lord's Supper is vivid and powerful as spectacular 
exhibition of the cross. It shozvs our Lord's death, 
holds up to view his dying on the cross, in such fash- 
ion as to move our hearts. And wherever celebrated, 
no matter how often repeated, this ordinance of the 
Lord's house shows, afresh, the Lord's death as the 
Savior of the world. It is impossible for word or 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 259 

symbol to go further, either in the wonder of expres- 
sion or the burden of its meaning. 

We know not which excites our wonder the more, 
the mighty event itself, or that this ordinance should 
be set for its showing and the churches should be en- 
trusted with its keeping through the ages unto the 
end. Never, before or since, was there another such 
event as the death of our Lord, or another ceremony 
charged with such message to the world. But here it 
is, to-day and to-morrow, and on till he comes; and 
either from the cross itself, or from the memorial as 
its tragic symbol one may read in its every adminis- 
tration the unparalleled words and startling paradox — 
the Lord's death. 

And the Lord's death must be memorable for ever, 
though now made so familiar in these emblems and 
in this memorial. The Lord's Supper and the cross 
are held together in inseparable association. In our 
observance of the one, we celebrate and honor and 
glorify the other. And sometimes we wonder, as a 
speculative thought, if there will not be, somewhere 
in sight, a glorified symbol of the cross, as an ever- 
lasting memorial of this great paradox, "when in the 
ages to come God shall show the exceeding riches of 
his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." 

BEYOND us, AND YET FOR OUR USE. 

In dealing with lofty subjects, such as we have been 
considering it is better to be entirely frank where 
we cannot explain or understand. But the Lord's 



26o The Memorial Supper. 

Supper sets out the Lord's death, and is intended to 
make it plain, as a fact available and of value for us, 
even though it cannot be comprehended in fullness. 
For, what we cannot comprehend may yet be availa- 
ble for our highest advantage, and it is easily possi- 
ble to believe and use freely, with ease, even what 
we do not understand ; otherwise, our creed would 
be straightened, indeed, and our impoverishment unto 
death would be speedy and complete. Indeed, it is 
one of the commonest laws of every-day life that we 
may yet believe what we do not comprehend and use 
what we cannot explain. 

It is not a question of understanding; but rather 
the great question of Jesus to Mary and Martha con- 
cerning his words as to the resurrection of their 
brother: "Believest thou thisf' That is our question 
as we confront the Lord's death on the cross as the 
atonement for sin. Everywhere and in everything, be- 
lieving and using outstrip and overreach understand- 
ing. This is not acting contrary to reason, but in the 
light of intelligence and of common, every-day knowl- 
edge. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye 
do them." 

Did you understand all the mechanism and intricacy 
of sending your last telegram, or telephone message, 
to say nothing of the wireless which caught your 
word, you know not how, and bore it off, and lodged 
it at the proper place many hundreds of miles away, 
on land or sea? Do you understand the wonders of 
the trolley car, so quickly come into use, as one of the 



The Memorial's Crowning Paradox. 261 

commonest modes of everyday travel? Here, as in 
other things, we know and recognize a thing as fact 
in its meaning and efficiency, and avail ourselves of 
its use and blessing, even where we cannot under- 
stand. The great, hungry world knows almost noth- 
ing of the relation between hunger and bread; never- 
theless, the great, hungry world eats bread and finds 
life. In the higher sphere, also, the soul has its hun- 
ger and its bread — even the Bread of life, which came 
down from heaven — which the world knows not of. 

So, we cling to him, as symbolized and set before 
us in the Lord's Supper. We know, as blessed facts, 
his death on the cross, his atonement for sin as an 
offer of mercy, his forgiveness and cleansing power, 
his marvelous grace in fullness and richness and 
freeness. We take him and find life, leaving for 
eternity the unfolding of the marvelous how it all 
comes. Before the wonders of redemption we veil our 
face, and rest with satisfaction in him, until somewhere 
and some time we may go further and know more. 

I saw, the other day, a beautiful sight. A tiny child 
was climbing for the telephone on the wall. By means 
of stool, and chair, and table, she was reaching for, 
and undertaking to use, what she did not understand 
— all just "to talk with farver at the store." She had 
seen others talk and get their answers ; she knew her 
father was at the other end. The whole thing a mys- 
tery, and yet the tiny child using it as a plaything, 



262 The Memorial Supper. 

and getting the fullness of its service and glad in the 
joy it brings. 

O fools are we, and slow of heart to believe, and 
learn, and use the great things of grace which God 
has put within our reach ! The cross — the cross is our 
telephone; we climb up as best we may — ^all so far 
beyond us and yet within our reach. We put in our 
word — the cry of the heart stricken with sin — we 
hardly know how — O Lord remember Calvary, re- 
member all thy dying groans, and then remember me. 
Hundreds and thousands, thousands of thousands 
many times over, have made that call, knowing noth- 
ing more, save only their burden of sin, their need and 
want of God's love and pardon, and Christ's cross and 
its crimson flow. And the answer has come, and the 
same answer every time in fullness and graciousness ; 
'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter 
than snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool." The great transaction is done; they are 
his and he is theirs ; and they are happy in him. The 
crowning paradox is the crowning glory, filling earth 
and heaven with splendor, and with the song of re- 
joicing. 

His death is my plea 

My advocate see. 
And hear the blood speak that hath answered for me. 

O, Jesus, my hope 

For me offered up, 
Who with clamor pursued thee to Calvary*8 top. 

The blood thou hast shed, 

For me let it plead. 
And declare thou hast died in thy murderer's stead. 




Christ Returning to His Former Gi-ort. 



CHAPTER XL 
FOREGLEAM OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. 



WE turn once more, and finally in this dis- 
cussion, to study the great ordinance in the 
light of our Lord's final word in its first ad- 
ministration on that memorable night. What 
he said then, as they sang the hymn and went out, re- 
mained with the Memorial as the heritage of his peo- 
ple until the end. His words, though somewhat figura- 
tive, are full of meaning and open the whole question 
of the future, both as to the progress and final tri- 
umph of his kingdom, and of the future life which 
shall be the culmination and glory of the life that 
now is. 

The several Evangelists vary somewhat m report- 
ing his words on that great occasion, but agree in 
their emphasis in the one preeminent and essential 
thought, as follows: 

Matt. 26 : 29 : "But I say unto you, I will not drink hence- 
forth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink 
it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 

Mark 24: 25: '*Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more 
of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new 
in the kingdom of God." 

Luke 22: 16, 18. "For I say unto you, I will not any more 
eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. . . . 



264 The Memorial Supper. 

For I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, 
until the kingdom of God shall come." 

1 Cor. 11: 26: "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink 
this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. " 

This word, //// he come, quoted from Paul in writ- 
ing to the church at Corinth, may be taken as the 
meaning given to him of that final word spoken in 
the upper room. Between the two occasions, however, 
years had intervened, and much had been done in 
making history. There was the death on the cross, 
which came the day following, the resurrection and 
ascension of his Lord, his own wonderful conversion 
as on his way to Damascus he had met his Lord, the 
preaching of the gospel everywhere and the founding 
of churches with their ordinances and their celebra- 
tion of the Supper. All this and more, had come to 
verify the words which were spoken, and which he 
had received from the Lord Jesus, and to give strength 
to his faith and enlargement to his hope. With him, it 
was the Memorial Foregleam already coming to the 
dawn. Till he come did not seem very far off, but the 
rather seemed approaching rapidly in growing power. 

ANOTHER LIFE BEYOND THE PRESENT LIFE. 

This is the first, simplest, and most manifest mean- 
ing of the Savior's word, and this meaning he set in 
his Memorial as a message to his churches whenever 
it should be celebrated. *'Until that day in my Fa- 
ther's kingdom." "Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom 
of God," "Until the kingdom of God shall come" — ^all 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVENLY KINGDOM. 265 

this he said, knowing that the coming morrow would 
see him die on the cross, but declaring, at the same 
time, that for him and his there was another life be- 
yond death. 

Tis not the whole of life to live. 
Nor all of death to die. 

Beyond this vale of tears 

There is a life above. 
Unmeasured by the flight of years 

And all that life is love. 

There is a death whose pang 

Outlasts the fleeting breath. 
Oh, what eternal horrors hang 

Around the second death. 

The Lord's Supper has its face to the future, and 
gives its word for that better life. After bearing tes- 
timony for nearly two thousand years, it still gives us 
this word — not now, but in the future life. "What I 
do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know here- 
after." There is, of course, the limitation of our 
knowledge, but also largeness and fullness of promise. 
Although filled with wonders of the past, the Memo- 
rial has, also, its word for coming glories, and casts 
its light upon our path leading thitherward. It brings 
the past and future together, while cross and crown 
are set over against each other, and memory and hope 
play each its part when we come to its celebration. 
There is suffering and death, but also life and glory 
to follow. 

Its light on the future may be counted only a gleam, 



266 The Memorial Supper. 

but still a gleam — a Foregleam of the Heavenly King- 
dom. A touch of gray in the eastern sky, even at the 
darkest hour, means the dawn of coming splendor. 
The day star in the heart means darkness while the 
stars are shining, but afterwards the coming day with 
the Sun of Righteousness, first on the horizon and 
then at the zenith in the fullness of noontide glory. 
Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face 
to face — still we see now. It does not yet appear what 
we shall be, but nozv are we the sons of God with our 
faces set for the Father's house. 

We rejoice in the light we now have, even though 
the heart sometimes fairly aches for the shining of 
more light upon the momentous questions of the fu- 
ture. Still, for the present, we have reigning in our 
hearts as great hopes "the coming of the kingdom of 
God,'* and there is ''that day in the Father's king- 
dom," when the Lord and his shall sit together; and 
there will be "fulfillment in the Father's kingdom." 
These are mighty words, and prospective of a glorious 
future, as emphasized in every celebration of the Sup- 
per; and in their strength we wait till he comes. 

NO other word but the bible word. 

The Bible apart, and all is changed; we have not 
even a gleam of light on the future. It is all dark- 
ness, darker than a day without the sun or a night 
without the stars. Without the Bible, much remains 
indeed but nothing for the future. Sin remains — sin 
in all its blackness as described in the Bible, sin in 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVENLY KINGDOM. 267 

all its dreadfulness and devastating work as we wit- 
ness and experience it in the world; the sense of sin 
remains — that strange foreboding of the human heart, 
deepening, more or less, into conviction that, some- 
how and somewhere, we must give account for the 
deeds done in the body; suffering and sorrow remain, 
with the many, many sources of suffering and sorrow, 
filling the world ever with anguish and despair. The 
sense of immortality remains — that feeling in both 
heart and mind, in stronger or weaker belief that we 
shall live again, that life is not all and that death is 
not the end but after this life another life, somewhere 
and somehow; and death remains with all that death 
does mean or may mean, in all its fearfulness as to 
ending this life and its awfulness of beginning an- 
other life. 

These things are all here now, and will remain, 
Bible or no Bible. They would still be here, even if 
the Word of God were blotted out of existence. They 
are not here because found in the Bible, but are in the 
Bible as a faithful portrayal of the conditions which 
are now here. And we know from our own observa- 
tion and experience, that the Bible word is true, every 
whit, concerning these things which we can see. And 
this should give us confidence in its word when offer- 
ing a remedy for sin, and when speaking concerning 
the future and the great questions hereafter. 

In the very nature of things, w^e cannot disprove 
what the Bible says about the future. And if what 
it says is not true, we will never know it; if what it 



268 The Memorial Supper. 

says about God, about heaven, with its jo3's and glo- 
ries; about hell, with its unutterable horrors; about 
man's life beyond death and beyond the grave — if all 
this should prove false, man will never know it. For 
if he dies as the beasts die, then all knowledge and 
power of knov/ing ends with his dying, — he goes out 
in death — goes out absolutely and utterly. He closes 
his eyes on scenes here to open them no more for 
ever; then there is decay of mind and heart, with 
universal and eternal — nothingness. And we are left 
looking out upon the far away nothingness as our 
only hope and destiny. 

But the Bible has a different word from this, and 
brings us out of the night into the sunlight of the 
morning. Its voice is authoritative, the only authori- 
tative and sure word in answer to that anxious, ever- 
pressing question: "If a man die, shall he live again?'' 
We ask this question when we see others die ; we ask 
it when contemplating our own death. But, turning 
away from God's Word, we have no answer for the 
longings of our heart, and no answer for our oppres- 
sive fears. In nothingness, which the gospel of de- 
spair hangs like a night-pall over the future, there is, 
of course, nothing for hope and nothing for joy. We 
cannot exaggerate the desolate and terrible condition, 
if the Bible be set aside. We insist on this with all 
earnestness, and come to the Lord's Supper in the 
light of God's Word, and in that light look out upon 
the future even though it be only a gleam — a fore- 
gleam. 



FOREGLEAM OF THE? HeAVENLY KiNGDOM. 269 
THE EVER-PRESSING QUESTION OF DESTINY. 

The end cometh — and then what ? This has been the 
one pressing question of all nations, through all the 
centuries. *'If a man die, shall he live again?" It is 
the universal question of the human heart; it has 
stood as the one interrogation point of all the ages, 
but has found its answer — an answer of satisfaction 
and of uplifting power. But the answer to this ever- 
recurring question does not come from nature, for 
nature, with all her wonders, has no voice concerning 
the future, or concerning our dead. Scientific research 
with all its vast and masterful achievements in man's 
behalf, can do nothing for us in this sphere. It may 
search among the stars and be at home among these 
far away distances and glories — but nothing beyond. 
The answer was not wrought out by the intellect with 
its mighty reach of invention and discovery; the an- 
swer did not come from the heart, with all its longing 
and yearning for the future; nature and intellect and 
heart — these all may demand an answer, even venture 
to give an answer for what shall be hereafter, but this 
is all insufficient ; in themselves and by their very char- 
acter they give strong presumption for the future, but 
even their strongest presumption is not authority. And 
with these alone as our guide, we^ are as yet left help- 
less and in the dark. 

God's Word is the only authoritative voice: "Life 
and immortality are brought to light in the Gospel." 
The young hero in the Greek drama, who was going 



270 The Memorial Supper. 

to execution, was asked by the Greek maiden, whose 
affections he had won, "Shall we meet again?" His 
answer is full of significance and beautiful pathos: 
**Shall we meet again? — I asked that question of the 
hills, that seem eternal ; of the streams, which flow on 
for ever ; of the stars, in whose azure fields my raised 
spirit has roamed in glory ; these are all dumb, but as 
I look into your eyes, I feel that there must be some- 
thing in your love which shall never wholly perish; 
we shall meet again." The young hero's answer, so 
exalted and noble, represents the best of Greek 
thought and philosophy and hopes and affection, and 
yet, his greatest certainty was nothing beyond a pa- 
thetic and stupendous guess. For the great ques- 
tion as to a future life we want a definite and fixed 
answer, but it cannot be given by the streams, or the 
mountains, or the winds, or the sea, or the stars, or 
the thunders, or the lightning. 

All of these are dumb and deaf to the great deeper 
appeals of the human heart as to what shall be here- 
after. How different it is with the Word of God, and 
with those who have an abiding faith in its wondrous 
teachings. Death comes to these as to others; and 
yet, there is a vast difference between their death and 
the death which others die. Those who die trusting in 
the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer, 
die in the Lord and their state is a state of blessed- 
ness, and their works do follow them. As we stand 
looking out upon the other shore, the supreme mat- 
ter with us for this life, as for the next, is our rela- 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVENLY KiNGDOM. 2^1 

tion to Christ. Dying in him, men go hence as going 
to their homes, and sweep through the gates of the 
New Jerusalem, washed in the blood of the Lamb. 

JESUS USES THE LANGUAGE OF HIS HOME. 

His words on that memorable night, as he closed 
the pathetic service, was the language of one in a 
strange land and foreign country. But he was talking 
in the familiar language of his own home. With him, 
the kingdom of God is identical with his Father's 
kingdom ; and there was a quiet earnestness in his ex- 
pectation and promise, such as comes alone from as- 
sured and certain knowledge. His language com- 
mands confidence, awakens hope and brings the joy 
of anticipation. There was not a cloud on his inner 
sky, though at the very moment the clouds on the 
outside were gathering in deeper blackness and becom- 
ing more ominous. Perhaps, even then, in that upper 
room our Lord had foretaste of that joy set before 
him, in the strength of which he endured the cross, 
despising the shame, and later in the triumph of resur- 
rection glory, sat down on his throne at the right hand 
of God. 

The language of Jesus always bore the marks of 
this same lofty composure and confidence. "He needed 
not that any should testify of man ; for he knew what 
was in man." But the rather, men took knowledge of 
him everywhere, that he spoke as one having au- 
thority — the authority to command, but also that su- 
preme authority which comes from absolute knowl- 



2^2 The Memorial Supper. 

edge and the power of knowing. "Never man spake 
like this man," no matter what the occasion. Whether 
pouring out his scathing words of indignation upon 
Pharisees and Sadducees, or searching the heart and 
answering the questions of the inquiring ruler, or 
quieting the disturbed heart of the woman whom he 
met at the well, or withering by his curse the barren 
fig tree, or commanding wind and wave, or calling 
the dead to life, or bidding devils go away, — always 
and everywhere he spoke as one at ease in his own pe- 
culiar sphere, — knowing with absolute knowledge, and 
therefore commanding or comforting, as occasion re- 
quired. So it was, also, when he spoke of his Father 
and of his Father's house and kingdom. He walked 
ever with his Father in the same lofty way, talked 
often of his home whence he came out and whither 
he should return, ever confident and serene in his 
outlook and final triumph. And in the same manner 
he set these great words of future import in his holy 
Memorial, where they sparkle like jewels in a diadem, 
and are the joy of his people to this day, and whenever 
they sit at his Table to celebrate his death. 

"In the kingdom of God — in the kingdom of my 
Father," I shall sit with you, eat with you, drink with 
you — the holiest and the most familiar association in 
the highest place and fellowship. "In my Father's 
house are many mansions; if it were not so I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVEXLY KiNGDOM. 273 

may be also." In these blessed words he closed the 
memorable service, passed them down to us in con- 
nection with his beautiful Memorial, and in their light 
we walk until he shall come in their fulfillment. 

THEIR FUTURE CONDITION A KINGDOM. 

The Lord's Supper, in its celebration, bespeaks a 
kingdom as the future condition of the saints in their 
glorious hereafter. All three of the Evangelists use 
the word kingdom, in reporting the closing scene in 
the upper room, and the Savior, in his final word, 
speaks of his Father's kingdom, or the kingdom of 
God. He referred, no doubt, to the heavenly kingdom, 
either as now being founded and peopled by the gath- 
ering of the redeemed in glory, or as it shall be in 
the completion of the work of redemption. In either 
case, whether in its progress or consummation, it de- 
scribes the future condition of the redeemed as a king- 
dom — the kingdom of God, the kingdom of our Fa- 
ther and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The word kingdom, especially kingdom of God, as 
applied to the future life, is one of the mighty words 
of the language. And our Lord set this great word 
of coming exaltation in his Memorial for repetition 
and emphasis. It puts renown and glory upon what 
shall be hereafter as an abiding promise in his ordi- 
nance. It means a King who shall be King of kings 
and Lord of lords. It means subjects — the innumera- 
ble hosts of the redeemed, who, saved in the everlast- 
ing covenant of grace, shall hold rank as the sons of 

18 



274 The Memorial Supper. 

God, and "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of 
their Father." It means sweep of space or largeness 
of realm, which shall serve as the sphere of their life 
and activities. 

We are more likely to fall short in the measurements 
of its meaning, than to be excessive in the reach of our 
thought. The kingdoms of this world shall surely 
become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. 
It shall be peopled with the redeemed of the Lord, 
and shall have its center in "a city that hath founda- 
tion whose builder and maker is God." And in this 
great word — the kingdom of his Father, our Master, 
even in the hour of his sorrow, opened to his people 
their future condition and their exalted estate. And 
he has so joined this majestic word with his ordi- 
nance, that his people, whenever assembled in its cele- 
bration, might behold in the distant ages their coming 
glory in his Father's kingdom. 

OTHERS BECOME MORE BOLD IN SPEECH. 

There was always, with Jesus, somewhat of reserve 
in the use of words, but they took hold of men with 
great force. His disciples felt their power and grew 
more bold under his instruction. They soon ceased to 
talk in the language of hope, but used, rather, the lan- 
guage of knowing. We hope gave place to we know. 
They recognized their limitation, but rejoiced with 
joy unspeakable in their knowledge, and gave no un- 
certain sound for the things wherein they were cer- 
tain. They knew, and knew that they knew even for 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeavEKLY KINGDOM. 275 

the future, and rested all in the unclouded vision which 
their Mast»er had given. 

We know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. ... It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear 
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. . . . 
Behold / shoio you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but 
shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. 

This is the outlook for the man of God who stretches 
himself on his bed to die. It puts a new phase on 
death, lights up the death chamber where all other 
lights have failed, and shows a glorious transition 
from the life that now is to another life which is in- 
describable in exalted rank and rapturous joy in the 
kingdom of God. 

"Remember me when thou comest into thy king- 
dom," was the appeal of the dying thief to the dying 
Christ; and the answer came quick, "This day shalt 
thou be with me in Paradise." The dying Stephen, 
with his face radiant like the face of angels, "saw 
the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right 
hand of God," and fell asleep in his blessed arms. The 
veteran hero of the cross, himself for ever a trophy 
of grace, fought his fight, finished his course, entered 
on his departure, looking for a crown which he should 
surely receive from his Lord the righteous judge. 

In the pathway of these three — ^the redeemed male- 
factor, the martyred preacher full of the Holy Spirit, 
the apostolic hero saved by grace as the chief of sin- 



276 The Memorial Supper. 

ners — millions and millions have gone as the blood- 
washed throng, the path shining brighter and brighter 
even unto the perfect day. The Foregleam of the 
Heavenly Kingdom opened with them first into the 
dawn, and then into a new day, full of the glory of 
God. And the quiet, strong word of the upper cham- 
ber, reaching over the stretch of centuries, comes 
again and again to fullness of realization, as the saints 
in light assemble with their Lord in the kingdom of 
their Father. 

PERSONAL IDENTITY SHALL REMAIN. 

One of the most important lessons our Lord left in 
his final word at the Supper is this, viz., that each one 
in the kingdom of his Father shall remain the same 
in personal identity. "When / drink it new with you 
in my Father's kingdom." This must mean his pres- 
ence in person, and their personal presence also, each 
in his own individual character; that those who were 
present with him in the Memorial Supper and genu- 
inely his, should be with him in the coming kingdom ; 
and that each one shall appear in his own individual 
character. 

This is a tremendous truth concerning the future 
life — full of j[oy for the righteous, but appalling in its 
thought for those who shall be banished from the pres- 
ence of his glory and shall go into outer darkness for 
ever. Each shall be himself in his own individual 
personality and not another. This is inevitable as the 
fundamental law of being. One cannot get rid of him- 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. 277 

self, either here or hereafter. And this law is not 
broken in the experience and transition of death. The 
end comes, and with it great changes of condition and 
environment. The body being left behind to await the 
resurrection, the spirit enters, at once, a new Hfe, and 
lives in a new world, with new conditions and new 
environment. What these are, we cannot know, and 
speculation affords but little, if any help. 

In all the changes which come, however, whether 
of condition or of environment, one thing remains, 
viz., self. The spirit— each one's own spirit or self — 
is indivisible, and selfhood is indestructible. Con- 
sciousness, intellect, affection, memory, conscience, 
character — these constitute selfhood, and selfhood is 
immortal. Personal identity is not lost in the dissolu- 
tion, nor marred or weakened in any way. Jesus and 
the disciples remain themselves as they are, together 
in the kingdom of their Father — each one in his own 
distinct personality. The nameless thief is still him- 
self, in the full memory of the cross with its groans, 
and of that blessed word which opened for him the 
gates of the eternal city; Stephen is still himself, re- 
membering the stones and the death which he died, 
and the vision of splendor with its untold comfort 
and joy; Saul of Tarsus is still himself, in the full 
consciousness and grateful recollection of the grace 
which wrought in him unto salvation. So, with all the 
redeemed, who sit down in the kingdom of God with 
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 

They die and go to God, as children going to their 



2/8 The Memorial Supper. 

Father's house. Many times over have we heard the 
rapturous, triumphant shout of Christians as they bid 
farewell to this world and set their faces to the heav- 
enly kingdom. With them it must be true — oh, it 
must be true — that Christ has come to welcome them 
home, and angels to escort them to their Father's 
house on high. No one can describe, for no one can 
know the experience of dying, until he goes himself 
that sublime and glorious highway to glory. The fol- 
lowing familiar lines concerning "The Dying Chris- 
tian to His Soul," are not without meaning and must 
come near the truth. 

Vital spark of heavenly flame, 
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame; 
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying; 
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying; 
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, 
And let me languish into life. 

Hark! They whisper! Angels say: 
Sister spirit, come away! 
What is this absorbs me quite! 
Steals my senses, shuts my sight! 
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath! 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 

The world recedes; it disappears — 

Heaven opens on my eyes. My ear* 

With sounds seraphic ring; 

Lend, lend, your wings — I mount, I fly — 

O Death where is thy sting? 

O Grave where is thy victory? 

Oh, can this be dying and this be death! Then, in- 
deed, it is not all of life to live nor all of death to die ; 
then, indeed, is death not death, and the dead are not 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVENLY KINGDOM. 279 

dead. Dying is not a ceasing to be, and not a loss of 
consciousness of the soul in its higher powers of be- 
ing; it is not even a period, but only a dash in rapid 
composition — a quick leap out into a broader, higher, 
larger, nobler life, with all the mighty powers of the 
soul still retained, and still active, and joyous in the 
presence of God. 

A KINGDOM FROM ADVERSE CONDITIONS. 

When, on that memorable night, in the upper room, 
our Lord made his promise for the coming kingdom, 
and of a glorious future for those who are his, the 
surroundings were all adverse and gave no prospects 
of fulfillment. One of his chosen twelve had already 
turned traitor and deserted him; and while with his 
little group he was talking of the coming kingdom, 
his enemies were plotting for his life, and everything 
seeming to go their way. His words were in striking 
contrast to the outside conditions, and yet were a 
gleam in the darkness — a Foregleam of the Heavenly 
Kingdom. That little room, even in that hour of 
darkness and of impending ruin, was still the most 
masterful center for that night, and for all the com- 
ing years. 

The betrayal by Judas was successful, even to plac- 
ing the foul kiss upon his holy lips; the arrest was 
successful, although the soldiers were overawed by 
the majesty of his words; the trial was successful, 
though Herod turned him over to Pilate and Pilate 
found no fault in him; the scourging, the mock robe, 



28o The Memorial Supper. 

and the mock crown of thorns, gave their testimony 
to his complete downfall, and the setting at naught of 
all the glorious things he had said ; his crucifixion was 
successful, while his enemies derided and boasted that 
he had saved others, but could not save himself; his 
burial in the new tomb was successful, and made fast 
with the Roman seal and secure by the Roman guard, 
while his followers were scattered, as sheep, without 
a shepherd; all this came, and came quickly, in less 
than twenty-four hours, the evil seeming to triumph, 
and the good seeming utterly undone. 

But over against all this stood that one quiet and 
mighty word spoken in the upper room : "I shall drink 
it new with you in my Father's kingdom." That one 
word was the glea mof the morning, in the darkest 
hour, just before the coming of the day. He was not 
holden of death, and his resurrection came — came 
speedily, inevitably, and with great power. It came as 
the first fulfillment of his word, as the first install- 
ment in making good what he had said, as a complete 
reversal of the whole course of events, as they were 
then sweeping on, — a reversal more mighty and com- 
manding than the reversal in nature when Joshua bid 
the sun stand still in the heavens. Our Lord gave us 
then the earnest of his promise, and much has followed 
since, followed gloriously through the successive years, 
while he works out his purposes in heaven and on earth 
for the making of his kingdom. 

There are adverse conditions now to his cause on 
earth and also to his kingdom in heaven. Those days 



FOREGLEAM OF THE HeAVENLY KINGDOM. 28 1 

he lay in the tomb may be taken as typical, illustrative 
of the times now current and which are moving for 
consummation when all shall be "fulfilled in the king- 
dom of God." The powers of darkness are often tri- 
umphant ; death seems to have full sway, as though its 
march should be for ever; its work of desolation is 
seen everywhere, in the darkness of homes and in the 
bitter sorrow of hearts; our dead, as to their bodies, 
rest in their graves, while the promise of resurrection 
shines as a light in the darkness. The cause of Christ 
often seems undone, while the child of God suffers in 
soul and body, with few marks in himself or in his 
condition, that he is the child of a King. 

"Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, 
having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are 
his."» There is no uncertainty in the outcome. The 
work of death shall be again undone, as in the resur- 
rection of Jesus. The saints may die, as they do die, 
and yet find their greatest victory in death, as open- 
ing the door to glory and to their Father's house ; and 
the powers of darkness shall be overthrown and the 
kingdom of Christ shall come in power and great 
glory. 

Brethren, while we sojourn here, 
Fight we must, but should not fear; 
Foes we have, but we've a Friend, 
One that loves us to the end. 
Forward, then, with courage go, 
Long we shall not dwell below; 
Soon the joyful news will come, 
"Child, your Father calls, — come home!" 

Next Sunday, we shall have, as we have often had. 



282 The Memorial Supper. 

our Memorial Service. It should be counted a mo- 
mentous occasion. How much it means ! In that beau- 
tiful and yet august ceremony, we celebrate our Lord's 
dying love, and hear again, as we have often heard 
his promise for the future, with the pledge of its ful- 
fillment in the fullness of time. "As often as ye eat 
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
death till he come" — a memorial of his death, as we 
look to the past, but with those blessed words till he 
come, as a pledge of his return and our Foregleam of 
the Heavenly Kingdom. For the Lord himself shall 
descend ; the dead in Christ shall rise ; and the living, 
changed into his likeness, shall be caught up together 
with him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; 
and so shall be ever with the Lord. Then shall come 
to pass in fullness, that saying of his : "I shall drink 
it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 

To Him be Honor and Glory and Dominion, 
Forever and Ever, Amen. 



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